The magic of the four elements is renewed in Maria Bernardino's print "Zodiac," the winner of the Young Art Award from CPS in 2019. In the set 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 vibrant red of the fire that fuels all passions and the intensity and splendor of life itself, the blue of water, the color par excellence 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 land whose destiny is to expand and make all its creatures vibrate in the light of a star that is a symbol of totality and the divine, the gray of the air that within its transparent atmosphere is the source of great transformations, a metaphor for the small and great mysteries.

The artist renews a tradition of many centuries that is reborn today in the refinement and magic of her 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 personal and transpersonal spheres. 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, marking 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 (which coexist with the signs), houses (which divide the sky of the astrological chart), and the horizon line (from where the ascendant emerges, making the chart precise). Between interpretative freedom and the legacy of a long tradition governed by mathematically precise 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