ON EXHIBIT MARCH 18 - APRIL 22 | SANTA BARBARA
From a young age, Mauricio Russo Camhi (1957, Chile) was passionate about building and assembling things, especially those that required great detail and fine motor skills. His curiosity about anything that moved captivated him. This sparked his passion for mobiles. When he attended an exhibition by Alexander Calder at the Museo de Bellas Artes, he was 13 years old and became absolutely fascinated by the artist’s mobiles, stabiles, and sculptures. From that very day, he began creating sculptures inspired by Calder’s works. At first, he built them simply for the pleasure of looking at them. Later, he started making them as gifts for the most significant people in his life, and now he wishes to offer them to those who enjoy observing these works that hang and balance in forms that delight the senses.
By profession, he is an Industrial Civil Engineer and holds a Master’s degree in Operations Research from the Universidad de Chile.
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“When I begin a new design, I believe I have mastered the balances, weights, counterweights, and forms, but I always have the feeling that part of the construction is guided by the mobile itself, which seems to tell me: this works, this doesn’t; this is harmonious, this isn’t; this is feasible, this isn’t. In the end, I have come to the conclusion that these works are a co-creation between the artist and the mobile itself.”
“Now that I have had to repeat some mobile models, I have truly experienced the meaning of a unique piece. When I replicate a model, it turns out ‘similar’ to the previous one, but not ‘identical.’ Each version has details that are unique, even if one wishes them to be exactly the same. I believe the value of creating a unique piece lies precisely in the fact that they are not products made from machine molds, but are crafted by human hands and, as such, are incapable of replicating a work exactly the same as the one before. If Michelangelo had been asked to sculpt two Davids exactly alike, I believe it is one of the few things that one of the greatest sculptors in history would not have been able to do.”
born
1957