The magic of the four elements is renewed in Maria Bernardino's print "Zodiac," winner of the Young Art Prize from CPS in 2019. In the collection of 36 pieces dedicated to this theme, Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and their respective zodiac signs take on the symbolism of the colors associated with them. The fiery red that fuels all passions and embodies 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 like a land whose destiny is to expand and make all its creatures vibrate in the light of a celestial body that is a symbol of totality and the divine, and 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 revitalizes a tradition that spans many centuries and now reemerges in the refinement and magic of her simultaneously artistic and poetic signs.

Maria João Fernandes

AICA - International Association of Art Critics

Artist Statement:

According to the classical definition, Astrology is a pseudoscience that holds that the relative positions of celestial bodies provide information about personality, human relationships, and other spheres, both personal and transpersonal. It can be seen as 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 into the elements that make up the horoscope: affinities (each sign's tendencies), aspects (distances between the angles of each planet), planets (which coexist with the signs), houses (which divide the sky of the astrological chart again), and the horizon line (where the ascendant emerges, making the chart precise). Between interpretive 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 an astrologer—interpreting, setting the tone in an intuitive and inspired way, playing with the realm of possibilities that exist in the astrological universe.

Maria Bernardino, Dec. 2021