MARIA FERNANDA LAIRET: INTERPRETTING THE EARTHLY AND SPIRITUAL VALUE OF GLOBALIZATION.


07/27/2012 | Section: Articles | Published by: Habitat Plus
BY: JOHANN STARCHEVICH / PHOTOS: JULIO OSORIO

THE VENEZUELAN PLASTIC ARTIST INTERPRETS THE SYMBOLS THAT ARE HIDDEN IN COINS AND BILLS IN A TYPE OF WORK THAT COMBINES COLLAGE, PHOTOGRAPHY AND DIGITAL TECHNIQUES, ALL GOVERNED BY A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE.

The world is making a transit through lands that are really close to a precipice and the road seems to get narrower with every step. The greatest global economical crisis in the last half century has already claimed some victims, like Greece that is considering the possibility of getting out of the European Union as a radical measure to refloat its economy and also not to spread the disease to other countries in theEuropean Union, the disease of the uncertainty and the nervousness that nearly sank their country into bankruptcy. Spain, another aspect to be considered in this crisis, is holding its breath and applying a hardplan of reductions in social programs with the objective of solving the unemployment problem of more than four million people. Surrounded by chaos, France and Germany are discussing if a policy of austerity is the most effective formula to take Europe out of the crisis. In America, the united States are recovering from the most serious economical storm in the last seven decades. On the other hand, uncertainty increases in China due to the deceleration of their productivity; this could also negatively affect Latin America, where the great economies are now dependent on their exportations of raw materials to the Asian giant.

The consequences of the crisis are hitting everyone: nations, banks, large corporations and common people in the street. Money, a medium that is both human and material, has become a lifesaver to survive the global financial storm. Many people think money is the origin of all the materialistic diseases of our present-day society and that it is also the instrument of the much discredited capitalism; but very little is said about the spiritual load it carries, or about its symbols, its historical, cultural and chromatic value, considered and compared in the different monetary signs of individual countries.


CONFRONTED SYMBOLS

It is precisely that, the study of the meaning and expressive value of money, what we can see in the work of the Venezuelan plastic artist María Fernanda Lairet, who has investigated the symbology and the spiritual values carried by coins and bills since year 2008 – which is the year of the beginning of the global financial crisis. Her work combines photography, collage and digital impression. Lairet has taken over the symbols that we can see in different monetary icons and she confronts them: the dollar pyramid with the figure of Mao; Bolívar’s profile with some shapes taken from Swiss francs all of it shown with the colors of Australian dollars. The result of her work is a collage visually charged to connect the public with the multiple meanings hidden in bills of different denominations and nationalities.
“I got interested in the forms and colors shown in every bill. I started to digitalize the images. I began to realize some interventions on them. I have played with their colors shapes and images. I have printed them with laser; I have projected them on fabric. It has been different from anything I have done before”, says Lairet to explain this work that she has named “Global Narratives”. The globalize language of her pieces has allowed her to exhibit her creations in Miami, Shanghai, London, Brussels, Santo Domingo and Caracas.

Even though Lairet initiated her artistic work in 1986, she is regarded as “an emergent artist” in the national milieu of the plastic arts. She only considers herself a creator with the same level of interest in painting, photography and digital intervention. Her artistic offer, with that harmonious mix of supports and techniques, has provoked international interest.


A FUSION OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE

The art project in the head office of the “Banco Exterior” has congregated architects, artists and designers with the purpose of renovating the spaces of their central office, all of which is in conformity with the image changes that the bank has been doing in the recent years. Wilmer Rivar, the Vice-president of Administration and Security of the “Banco Exterior” talked to us about this initiative.

What were the criteria to choose the proposal of the plastic artist María Fernanda Lairet for the spaces of the bank?
The concept that we were meaning to put together was a fusion of architecture and art; we planned to do it through the composition and construction of different large-scale murals that now are being exhibited inside of our operative spaces as art pieces or as architectural elements that gain force and importance in our spaces and that are there to demarcate our work areas as well. This way, we are offering an area with the harmonies, the contrasts, the beauty and all the expressions that are proper and authentic in the language of the artistic vanguard that this Venezuela plastic artist proposes. María Fernanda Lairet utilizes the tools of digital art and the new techniques of informatics. All of the murals that she made for us contain the reinterpretation of many coins and bills from different parts of the world, presented with the formal expression of diverse elements and symbols depicted in an abstract composition replete with color, made of multiple grids and webs created with straight and curved lines. The formal definition of the spaces is achieved with these murals. The use of color and light has brought an individual identity to every department. On the second floor of our main tower, work areas and art are mixed and you can feel you are in a gallery. Through these additions to the office space, we are offering our personnel a really pleasing work environment.

The architectural space is composed by two main elements: a central nucleus represented by a transparent crystal box and two open poles, north and south. Both elements are accompanied by one area of circulation – an uninterrupted passage of 50 lineal meters - and also by some operative areas. The central nucleus is definable as a volume of glass that shows in its exterior side a continuous visual element, built with multiple horizontal lines. These horizontal lines have a height that does not exceed that of the work areas. This element creates a duality, an ambiguous sensation between the open and the enclosed space; somehow you are inside and outside at the same time. In its interior, the crystal box has three well differentiated spaces. María Fernanda Lairet has created an artistic combination of light and color where they interplay with each other, showing a visual contrast that brings identity, originality and personality two each of the departments that belong to this nucleus. The artistic definition of the space has become a visual reference in each case: for the “Foreign Exchange Control Department”, for the “Compensation Department” and also for the “Service Desk”.

As much in the direction to the north wing, as in the direction to the south wing, the open spaces show an exhibit of Lairet’s art in the background. This way, an interesting composition is established. The art projected in the foreground, where all you can see is just some of the sketched lines that the artist generates in a geometrical disposition, and the art in the background that somehow blurs the lines in the frontal surface; that combination makes the spectator feel a two-dimensional space has invaded a tridimensional dominium.

Which is the purpose of the incorporation of these art pieces and designs to the spaces of the building?
When we decided to integrate some artistic work to the architecture of our building, our intention was to improve the quality of our work environment, to potentiate the good effects of the beauty our space on our personnel, bettering and increasing the creativity, the productivity and the inspiration of all those people who contribute their work to the “Banco Exterior”.

We can use physical space as a means to communicate the ideas and values we want to transmit. In the specific case of this floor, we have achieved to transmit, through these art pieces, values like creativity, innovative thinking, passion, union, authenticity, commitment to get results, talent, and a sense of progress and an appreciation of beauty amongst other aspects. A very positive effect is obtained on both, the collaborators of this financial institution, who work surrounded by these art works, and also on our visitors.

Is there any difference in the work production? If we compare these office areas with the traditional environment in regular work space, has the integration of art work into the office space affected productivity?
Yes, it definitely has had an effect. The art pieces integrated to the office areas favor the work atmosphere. Their presence benefits efficiency and productivity. A better distribution of the space has been of help, as well. Our effort to improve the quality and functionality of the areas has also brought creativity and dynamism to them. By offering a more pleasing environment we have facilitated the harmonious coexistence of our personnel and their permanence in the work place.

The people that work in that space, what do they say about all of these art pieces that surround them during their work day?
They feel they are in a totally new space. They express there is more peace and serenity in their work area. They enjoy the contemplation of the art pieces. They like to work submerged in art.

Are you planning to change some other areas of the building?
As we commented in a previous interview we had with “Habitat Plus”, in the head office building of the “Banco Exterior”, we have been remodeling and renovating all of the floors of the operative section of the bank. In the near future, we have programmed to highlight and enhance some other spaces of the building: the reception area for clients”, “the personnel instruction and training area and the Recreational areas. We will continue the innovations in our bank.