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 red of the crackling fire that fuels all passions and the intensity and brilliance of life itself, the blue of water, the quintessential color of the imaginary, the starting point of the great journey of dreams and the cradle of all living forms, the golden yellow, solar and alchemical color of a land whose destiny is to expand and make all its creatures vibrate in the light of a star that is the emblem of totality and the divine, the gray of the air which, within its transparent atmosphere, is the source of great transformations, a metaphor for the small and great mysteries.

The artist renews a tradition that spans many centuries, which now reemerges in the purity and magic of her simultaneously artistic and poetic signs.

Maria João Fernandes

International Association of Art Critics (AICA)

Artist's 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 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 again), and the horizon line (from where the ascendant emerges, making the chart precise). Between interpretive freedom and the inheritance 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