Inverness Museum & Art Gallery, until12 July; Swanson Gallery, Thurso, 19 July – 12 August 2008

Ana Maria Pacheco - Terra Ignota 10, Drypoint, 1993, 33 x 25cm, © Published by Pratt Contemporary Art, 1994

ALTHOUGH Ana Maria Pacheco is perhaps best known as a sculptor of large scale figurative groups, painting and printmaking remain an essential part of the artist’s creative process. Originally from the central western region of Brazil she achieved degrees in both art and music before moving to London in 1973 to study at the Slade School of Art.

This touring exhibition from the Hayward Gallery in London reveals the central role of original printmaking in the artist’s practice. It is also an excellent opportunity to see superb examples of woodcut, drypoint, etching and multi-plate colour etching techniques.

The title “prints” is often misinterpreted by the wider public, especially in an age of giclée or inkjet reproductions of original works. What we see in this exhibition are the finest examples of the printmaker’s art, each work part of an original limited edition produced by hand. Pacheco often works directly onto a plate without preliminary drawings in a kind of “rehearsal” for larger scale pieces, however these works cannot be viewed simply as studies. Each is a complete work in its own right and when seen together present an unforgettable vision of the human condition.

Five sets of prints on display allow us to see not only her technical skill but the range and depth of her work. Diverse influences from Classical mythology, Folk Art, European and South American literature, the oral storytelling tradition of Brazil, Catholic ritual and photojournalism can be seen in sequences of powerful imagery in which the human element is always centre stage.

The ‘Rehearsal 1-10′ series (Etching 1989) are both beautifully executed and deeply disturbing. There is a certain type of mark only achievable through high point contact of hand tools with an etching plate and this delicacy is exquisitely rendered in Pacheco’s work. The fineness of these marks are contrasted with powerful use of white, black and red, adding to the stage-like presentation of a series of masked heads.

The naïve treatment of the figure and the effect of extreme tones of light and dark introduce an element of the grotesque reminiscent of Bosch, Brueghel and Ensor. Half hidden faces grin and grimace in a carnival-like parade. These figures are inseparably human and bestial, red ink expelled from their mouths and musical instruments like a life force of blood. Their masks are part theatricality and part concealment, and Pacheco uses this visually and symbolically to great effect.

There is a sense of humanity corrupted by its own mortality in this series. The teeth, which the artist describes as the only “part of the skeleton that is visible” connect the sequence strongly with death and decay. The final image, a human head upturned, reminded me strongly of images of descent from the cross.

The idea of dark and light pervades much of the exhibition and moves beyond chiaroscuro as technique. The word “Medieval” is often connected with the artist’s work and for me this is extremely apt in terms of its intent. The way in which work communicates, its formal qualities, the use of symbol and narrative link strongly with the lesson or morality of the work. The world which we do not see with our eyes is illuminated. Part of the fabric of these images is their sense of social conscience; the political statement here is ultimately one of empathy.

The artist’s interpretation of mythology, folk tales and religious imagery is presented as personal, concentrating on a particular aspect of a story rather than literal illustration of a particular text. Pacheco asserts that “Your interaction with others is a political statement”. In her work commonality of human experience is evoked thematically through the recurrent motif of the journey, which for all of us ends in death (and, depending on your faith, transformation) Like Goya’s ‘Disasters of War’ or ‘Los Caprichos’ etchings, Pacheco’s vision of human behaviour and displacement through war and conflict is timeless, cyclical and inevitable.

Influenced by DH Lawrence’s poem ‘Ship of Death’, ‘Terra Ignota 1-10′ (‘Unknown Land’, Drypoint 1994) is a beautifully potent set of images. Completed prior to the artist’s large scale sculpture ‘The Longest Journey’ (Polychrome wood 1994 ), they exhibit characteristic high contrast of dark and light. The vessel is often held aloft, grounded by scaffold, suggestive of the irony of man’s earthbound plight and spiritual aspirations.

‘Terra Ignota 3′ in the series, depicting a woman and child, reads as an image of hope. The light that connects the two figures is the central focus of the work emerging out of the darkness, whilst two sinister masked figures observe in the peripheral shadows. The scene is illuminated with the focus of candle light against velvety black, framing the relationship between the two figures and revealing their essential vulnerability.

‘Terra Ignota 7′ presents a more uncompromising image; a fallen descent into hell, where the central composition of bodies are funnelled, eventually reduced to a black human ink stain on paper. The definition of form and texture in drypoint gives these images a strange softness and fragility. Light touches of cross-hatching and the smallest of details combine to define highly contrasted areas of black and white.

Pacheco employs the earliest and most accessible of printmaking techniques in her series ‘Gargantua and Pantagruel 1-X’ (Woodcut 1994). Based on the satirical writings of 16th century French author François Rabelais, these stark woodcuts are equally infused with “high learning and base humour”. Pacheco’s reinterpretation of the tale; a journey taken by a giant and his son, links with links with the Northern Brazilian folk tradition of “Literatura de cordel”.

Poems were traditionally sung with guitar accompaniment in public places and in the 19th century the form evolved into popular and easily reproduced pamphlet poetry. In the ‘Gargantua and Pantagruel’ series interpretation of the text and technique represent a public function of art; an acknowledgement of the daily grind of human life but also as an escape from it.

Two of the most fascinating images in the exhibition are ‘Lux Aeterna I & II’ (Drypoint 1995). Though each image is inspired by photographs from different timeframes and continents, “the horror of being displaced” is painfully relevant throughout. There is a strangely symbiotic relationship between these two images derived from the present day Middle East and 19th century Brazil.

The idea of conquest is conveyed through the shadowy presence of helicopters overhead and the ancient witness of the sphinx. The title of the work refers to the Requiem Mass; “Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord: and let eternal light shine upon them”, placing images of atrocity in the context of prayer and commemoration.

‘Tales of Transformation I-V’ (Multi- plate colour etching 1998) are the most richly colourful of the works on display, and also the least harrowing. Created while Pacheco was associate artist at the National Gallery from 1997 to 2000, the series draws on Classical mythology; tales of Medea, Circe, Cyparissus and Orpheus from Ovid’s Metamorphosis.

The first image of the series, Medea taking flight in a chariot drawn by dragons, invokes beautifully the magical element of fire. Colour is introduced through each layered plate like glowing embers.

‘Tales of Transformation III’ explores the myth of Cyparissus as an eternal symbol of empathy and suffering. The moment of Cyparissus wounding the white stag is depicted in a starlit grove of cypress trees. It is a poetic image and one of recognition. Suffering transforms us; growth is only possible through a journey from innocence to experience, like the journey of the fool in a tarot pack.

In Greek myth Cyparissus expresses his remorse and appeals to the God Apollo to “allow his tears to flow forever”, and he is transformed into a Cypress. In this image Pacheco returns as in so much of her work to the idea of empathy as an agent of transformation.

Although Pacheco’s prints could be interpreted as “dark” in terms of subject matter and attitude, it is only the acknowledgement of both darkness and light that allows us to see anything clearly, visually or morally. To see an artist so engaged personally, socially and in terms of her craft is an absolute pleasure. As an exploration of technique and of the human condition this is a show that should not be missed.

© Georgina Coburn, 2008

Links

• Ana Maria Pacheco
• Inverness Gallery & Museum