Puerto Rican (active United States), 1977-
Created: 2012
Materials: Ceramic, concrete, steel, resin
Cristina Córdova’s figural sculpture, Preludios y Partidas, now commands a wall at one end of the ceramics gallery on Level 3 at Mint Museum Uptown. Of this subtle yet powerful psychological work, Córdova says: “In understanding this piece as a metaphorical topography, I wanted to use the title to hint as to what that corresponding psycho-emotional space would be. This landscape is one of transition and like the reference to the distillment of reason and logic from uncertainty and chaos, these figures are in the preliminary charged states (preludios) before a great action (partidas). Although the floating concrete elements could hint of the residual vestiges of a previous reality, I am not thinking of it as further leading to an ending but to the beginning of a new cycle. Common to the human experience are profound shifts where the ground gives way and one is thrust into powerful periods of self-reflection, growth, and renewed vision; this is how this space looks in my mind right before the next grand launch."
Project Ten Ten Ten Commission. Museum Purchase. Photograph courtesy of Cristina Córdova. T12.71