Mariana Villanueva – The Flight of the Butterflies (Elysium: March 15 – May 1, 2017)
Mariana Villanueva, Master in Design, IED Istituto Europeo di Design, Italy.
Mariana moves herself across different spaces in the world such as London, Monterrey, Bucharest, Milano, a true global citizen, discovering the glass as a creative raw material, expressing her skills through this pure and noble material.
She found out Glass as inspiration in 2005 in England, since then she started working and learning the material in different countries, developing the concept of the “Fly of the Butterflies”. This work talks through the fly of transparency, butterflies illuminated by colors that subtly fill in the spaces inhabited by them.
Curator Iulia Toader about the exhibition: “An association of fresh beauty between two converging concepts through fragility, the ephemeral (butterfly life) and the immediate perishability of the glass as a material. Together we have a look at that “je ne sais quoi” of the existence and mere awareness of non-permanent external world throws us for a longer, shorter time in a dialogue with ourselves. This dialogue perceives it as a flight, a detachment of all that is earthly, in a An attempt to capture the essence of life.
A warm and enormous personality through elegance and good taste, the artist brings us into her repetitive universe, in which butterflies become a symbol for the objective search for the hidden meanings in existence. Purely decorative, individually or metaphysically grouped, her butterflies watching you long after admiring them, their fine transparency and their flight make you want them to be as real jewelry.”
Works Available at the Gallery – Mariana Villanueva
There are 13 fusion glass butterflies available for sale as of DECEMBER 2020 that will make an amazing Christmas present or decoration:
REDPassion 7 butterflies: 1 BIG (30cm, EUR 300), 2 MEDIUM (18cm, EUR 200) & 4 SMALL (10cm, EUR 150)
BLUE Dawn 6 butterflies: 2 MEDIUM (18cm, EUR 200) & 4 SMALL (10cm, EUR 150).
Please see photos of the available butterflies below:
1 BIG RED
2 MEDIUM RED
3 MEDIUM RED
4 Medium BLUE
5 Medium Blue
“The Flight of the Butterflies” is divided into three Life concepts:1. DAWN IN BLUE
Its related with a beginning; to wake up every day into an adventure. In my life represents dynamism, the continuous experiences of moving from one country to another. The blue colors flood the transparency which gets you closer to the sky and to relax yourself.
2. LOVE IN PINK
It’s about falling in love with your Life, everything which makes you happy. In my life is represented by the birth of my children, that loving look they give me every single day.
The multicolor roses follow the movements of the light across the glass transparency, where the happiness of the color connects us with our dreams and hearts.
3. RED SUNSET
Its related with making your dreams comes true and the passion for everything we do. In my life is reflected by building a Family next to the person I love.
The warm and energetic red tones provide the strength to this art design. Those colors expand themselves flooding and embracing with lights the entire room.
The first butterflies are designed and created in the Monterrey, exhibited in private spaces.
The works from the “Flight of the Butterflies” Collection at the Elysium Exhibition have been brought to life in Romania and they’ve received a face decorated by the fusion method.
The works of this dreamed project came true in Romania once Mariana imported her special kiln (oven) to produce her beautifully decorated in fusion stile glass.
Glass fusing is the technique used to join glass pieces together by partly melting the glass at high temperature. The fusionprocess requires multiple pieces of glass, with a minimum of two. The heating is commonly undertaken in an electric kiln and lasts for many hours for both the glass fusing and glass shaping.
