Pilar Ovalle Art

Chilean artist Pilar Ovalle's sculpture "Barca Pez," or "Fish Boat," is crafted with driftwood collected from lake shores in Chile combined with dimensional Alerce, a native Chilean wood. It can be suspended as shown or a custom bracket (not included) can be designed based on the site to make it into an exciting wall sculpture. In Ovalle’s imagination, boats embody animal forms, reinforcing the imaginative versus physical nature of the boat as a representation of travel. Ovalle says of her work, "As I work directly with Nature, combining wood already ‘worked’ by wind, water and time, with ‘elaborated’ - sawn - wood, I do this with a critical scope, dealing with ecology and progress, with emotion and poetry somehow set against rationality and technology, or setting ‘wisdom’ against mere information." This sculpture is suspended from two wires, but could also be wall hung with a custom bracket (not included). We would be happy to assist with the design of this custom bracket. Ovalle traveled to Southern Chile to study with boat builders and learn the traditional skills of the trade, which is evident in the graceful curve of the hulls she has built with traditional joinery and wood "stitches" and without the use of nails. Born in Santiago, Chile, Pilar Ovalle began her studies in 1989 at the Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo de Santiago. She studied with the Instituto through the early '90s, during which time she also won Third Prize at the XV Concurso de Arte Joven (Young Art Contest) and received grants from Fondart (National Fund for the Arts) for her projects “Sculpture with Shattered Wood” and “Curved Wood Sculpture...