Renewed magic of the four elements can be seen in Maria Bernardino's print "Zodiac," winner of the Young Art Prize from CPS in 2019. In the series of 36 pieces dedicated to this theme, Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and their respective zodiac signs assume the symbolism of the colors associated with them. The fiery red that fuels all passions and the intensity and radiance of life, the blue of water, the quintessential color of the imagination, the starting point of the great journey of dreams and the cradle of all living forms, the golden yellow, solar and alchemical of a earth whose destiny is to expand and make all its creatures vibrate in the light of a star that is emblematic of totality and the divine, the gray of the air which, within its transparent atmosphere, is the source of great mutations, a metaphor for the small and the great mysteries.

The artist renews a tradition of many centuries that is reborn today in the refinement and magic of its simultaneously plastic and poetic signs.

Maria João Fernandes

AICA - International Association of Art Critics

Artist's Statement:

According to the classical definition, Astrology is a pseudoscience in which the relative positions of celestial bodies provide information about personality, human relationships, and other spheres, both personal and transpersonal. It can be considered a divinatory activity when used as an oracle, but it can also be used as a tool for understanding human emotions, highlighting emotional aspects by comparing certain tendencies with elements of each individual's personality.

Zodiac was created during a journey of discovery of the elements that make up the horoscope: affinities (tendencies of each sign), aspects (distances between the angles of each planet), planets (that live in parallel with the signs), houses (that divide the sky of the astrological chart), and the horizon line (from which the ascendant emerges, making the chart precise). Between interpretive freedom and the inheritance of a long tradition governed by mathematically exact elements, Zodiac is the result of a journey that seeks to be similar to the task of the astrologer - interpreting, setting the tone intuitively and inspired, playing with the field of possibilities existing in the astrological universe.

Maria Bernardino, Dec. 2021