Fuegos artificiales
Artist name
Artist year born
1941
Artwork make date
1986
Artwork title translation
Fireworks
Artwork material
watercolour
ink
paper
ink
paper
Artwork dimensions
height: 50cm
width: 35cm
width: 35cm
Artwork type (categories)
Mixed Media
Accession method
Donated by Albino Dieguez Videla 1995
Accession number
22-1995
Label text
The vertical, upward explosion of forms and of colour in this work is immediately evocative of a display of fireworks. It is unlikely, however, that Martha Zuik set out to create an image of 'artificial fires' (as the Spanish translates literally); this work, like Arbol, was created rapidly and relatively randomly.
According to the artist, her works are constructed according to chance and play. At the same time, Zuik pays great attention to the quality of the line in her drawings: 'the thickness, the thinness, and the things that occur within the line are intrinsic to the drawing's character. Each line should have it's own personality and have experienced things, just like human beings. The drawing is important as a whole but so is each single line'.
In Fuegos Artificiales the lines are drawn with Chinese ink and do vary hugely from narrow, spidery marks like hairline cracks on a wall to thicker bird-like, arching forms. Like tendrils the lines connect horizontally across the base of the work but the overall motion is skywards, a direction that is reinforced by broader, background sweeps of watercolour that burn red at the base, gradually turning blue and then yellow.
Joanne Harwood
According to the artist, her works are constructed according to chance and play. At the same time, Zuik pays great attention to the quality of the line in her drawings: 'the thickness, the thinness, and the things that occur within the line are intrinsic to the drawing's character. Each line should have it's own personality and have experienced things, just like human beings. The drawing is important as a whole but so is each single line'.
In Fuegos Artificiales the lines are drawn with Chinese ink and do vary hugely from narrow, spidery marks like hairline cracks on a wall to thicker bird-like, arching forms. Like tendrils the lines connect horizontally across the base of the work but the overall motion is skywards, a direction that is reinforced by broader, background sweeps of watercolour that burn red at the base, gradually turning blue and then yellow.
Joanne Harwood
Last updated date
2008