LUzia Simons
Canticle of the Creatures

Curated by
Brunno Silva

September.17 - DECEMBER.30.2020

Our first stop is the facade of the Chiesa del Carmine (1720), a classic example of late baroque. Here the embellishments are concentrated in the four niches around the prominent figure of the Beata Vergine del Carmelo (Virgin of Carmel), above the entrance. On the two top niches we are presented with sculptures of the prophets Elijah and Elisha and below the sculptures of S. Teresa d’Avila and S. Maddalena dei Pazzi. The church was built for the Carmelites, an Order graced with the charism of contemplation that in a broder sense of the word also includes action rather than simple passive observation. We can observe this same tension between movement and contemplation in the flowers present in Simons’ photographs, although static the viewer is constantly reminded of its timely presence and inevitable death of these fragile, but still enduring, beings. 

In the facade, details can easily escape the eye in these intrinsic niches of beauty and elevated mastery for mark making onto stone, an effortless result based on intensive execution. Similarly, Luzia Simons captures every detail of her subjects in her series Stockage, here illustrated by Stockage 185 (image below). After long theoretical and technical research into photography and industrial scanners, Simons created her own shooting technique, namely the Scanogram. Her subjects are largely found in the Brazilian and European flora with a prominent presence of tulips. A augamention of botanical sources that draws from dutch baroque painting while presenting these captions in unique and intrinsic compositions.

Stockage 185, Luzia Simons

Much of the fascination caused by Simons creations is the overlay of approaches to image creating, if the scan technique deploys an unconscious and chirurgical registration, in contrast the final images could rather be described as harmonious and natural depictions of its subjects. In addition, the paradox of what we see and what lies underneath these images can be illustrated by the innumerous meanings given to Simons’ main subject: the tulip. From a signal of love to stock exchange commodities, that caused the first known economic depression, the flower's meaning varies tremendously depending on countries and time.

A fascinating tension is then created in the space between beauty and indulgence, visually and conceptually. While considering the baroque style and its exaggeration, often the artist's mastery played a crucial role in order to balance all the aspects to create an effortless final feel – an act that often is overlooked, art history books are not kind with less than perfect examples of a movement. A rich style grounded on nature and its wonders, constantly in tension to not over do it.

Simons’ artworks also share this crafted balance between the harmonious and an  overwhelming sense of beauty. The artworks Stockage 181 and 179, although not conceived as a diptych, do together exemplify Simon’s unique space, where flowers' intrinsic details negotiate with the scanogram, at times with strong coloring and at others almost as if disappearing into the background darkness.