Zona Maco

Gabriela Vainsencher’s painted, carved, and glazed ceramic wall reliefs combine archaeological and anatomical motifs that have appeared throughout her interdisciplinary practice. Her presentation features vibrant glazes and an early modern portrait style. Motherhood and the body continue to be strong themes - symbolic vessels abound, and in some works a technique of wiping away underglaze mimics ghostly sonograms, footprints and half faces emerging from dark fluid. Elsewhere, depictions of ultramarine seascapes on Greco-Roman inspired vases create an allegory for the body’s tides and creative force. “The Lesson” shows a daughter holding a doll and riding her pregnant mother within a stylized domestic scene: a lamp illuminates a wallpaper of delicate leaves and vines, while the carpet appears to grow roots. The mother is staged as stylish furniture, and feels the physical burden of her child while also enjoying closeness, their hair drifting together as one mass. The game they play is instructive, as the girl learns the art of parenting. “Basis” shows a woman contorted and standing on her own hair, perhaps playing a game or posed as a sturdy stool, her position uncomfortable but also one of strength. Three portraits centered in medallions bring a new illustrative style, characters both stylish and comfortable in their aging faces.