GENIUS LOCI
Solo exhibition
The White Wall
Espacio 88, Barcelona



Traditionally used within architectural theory, Genius Loci is a Latin expression meaning “the spirit of places”.

Within that framework, the goal was capturing the essence of my travels, wanderlust being a recurring theme in my work.

Through the abstract interpretation of the places of my memories, I created an installation combining mural painting and relief works, as well as a collection of wooden sculptures.

The result is a celebration of the merging of my present as and artist with my past as an architect, and my passion for the built space.




Installation views: Cyclades,  Al–Andalus and Laribal relief panels. Acrylics on board and painted mural, 333x133cm.


Installation views: sculpture collection.


The sculpture shapes are completely informed by the research phase of the project, resulting from an organic, snake–eats–its–tail process that began with small flat paintings, which inspired paper constructions, in turn inspiring both the wooden sculptures and their flat relief versions.

In the wooden sculptures, there is a specific logic for each angle, joint and negative space, a direct result from the experimental paper constructions.




Fig. 1 (left): Pantheon sculpture views. Painted wood, 20x20x20cm.

Fig.2 (right) Paper constructions research that inspired the wooden sculptures.
There is a reason for each angle, joint and negative space.




Above: Oía, Granada, Pompéia, Imerovigli and Sampa sculptures.
Painted wood, 20 x 20 x 20cm.


Reference paintings that inspired the subsequent relief and sculpture pieces.

Traveling—or better yet, wanderlust—and my former training in architecture were the main sources of inspiration for the project and constant leitmotifs in my work.




For this first collection of 3D pieces, I was inspired by Brazilian and Catalan modernist architecture, traditional Spanish villages, neoclassical architecture and the Greek isles.


Travel photos, personal archive.
Picturing Athens, the Greek Isles, Paris, the Loire Valley, Andalucían villages and Barcelona.


Setting up the installation on The White Wall at Espacio 88.


Process and working in the studio.


Installation on view
April 5 — April 30, 2019

Espacio 88
C. Pamplona 88
Barcelona


Photography by Teresa Marinho.








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Marina Esmeraldo is a Brazilian illustrator, artist and educator, based between Barcelona and London. She speaks five and a half languages, loves travelling and the sea, and is currently obsessed with outdoor sketching, film photography and subconscious reprogramming.


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