Exploring the Studio of Artist Luna Paiva
This week we’d love to introduce you to the completely breathtaking work of Barcelona-based artist Luna Paiva!
Luna is a photographer and sculpture maker known for casting objects such as boulders and cacti in bronze. Gabby and Mariella recently enjoyed a behind the scenes studio tour with a clients who loved her work as much as we do!
MONOBLOC CHAIR, ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2018 ARTEBA 2018
About Luna
Born in Paris in 1980, Luna has a degree in Art History and Archeology from La Sorbonne and studied film at NYU. Her artistic mediums are sculpture, installation and photography, her work has been shown in exhibitions in Latin America, Europe and the United States. Her works also form part of the Museum of Modern Art Buenos Aires’ permanent collection.
She has won numerous awards including second prize at Maurizio Cattelan's collaborative installation, Eternity 2018, Art Basel cities curated by Cecilia Alemani, Itaú Art Prize in 2013 and Buenos Aires Photo Petrobras Art Prize in 2011.
As a photographer her work has featured in Vogue Italy, L'officiel Art, Barzón, The Skirt Chronicles, Apartamento and more.
EGG COLLECTIVE New York 2021
Luna gilds objects that were not born to be art, but that have lead a life all of their own - species of a wild realm, utterly transformed in her studio.
Her gilded still-life pieces play with the sacred layers of fetish present in contemporary art but also span from an ancient tradition, where casting gold embodied a sacred soul. Ready-mades of nature gilded for profane adoration.
ARTEBA / SEMANA DEL ARTE 2019.
My bronze pieces are made to be outside, to be exposed to the sun and rain, transformed by time and hardship. Public spaces are the most challenging arenas in which to exhibit art - an ideal setting. It’s inspiring for me to move beyond the traditional museum or gallery and to be able to start a dialogue with passersby, people who aren’t necessarily interested in art.
Without buying a ticket or waiting in line or “belonging” to the art world, an observer can see the work and interact with it - even by ignoring it. - Luna Paiva on the risks and rewards of showing art in unexpected places for Art Basel Online.
A MATTER OF TIME installation for THIS IS NOT AMERICA curated by Zoe Lukov, Faena Arts/ Miami Art Basel 2018.
A Matter of Time is an immersive environment that allows viewers to move within the remnants of a typical home or cabin—the leftovers memorialised in bronze: a chimney, plastic picnic chairs, curtains, and carpet.
An archeological meditation, the installation is a vision of what remains after everything else is stripped away. These artifacts of comfort and solidity seemingly become the contents of a shipwreck, or what is left after an apocalyptic storm.
Luna’s shimmering objects exist outside of time, a threshold between past and future, a reflection on quickly fading symbols and mythology around the “American Dream”.
Un desierto en el jardín, Hermès Artist Window, Barcelona September-November 2016.
Limited Edition Embossings for Cartier 2021
Buenos Aires / CETC Teatro Colón, Nov. 2014
Luna made two installations for Hermès: Artist's Windows in Buenos Aires 2014 and in Barcelona 2016. She also undertook a collaboration with Ferragamo in 2019 with Paul Andrew and Frida Escobedo. She also created a limited edition series of embossings for Cartier in 2021.
A prolific and multi-talented creative, Luna designed dramatic and visually arresting sets for the opera Hercules en el Mato Grosso in Buenos Aires and Hercules in Mato Grosso and Dixon Place in New York in 2015 selected and co-produced by Americas Society, New York.
Luna’s star continues to rise in the art world and art insiders know she is truly one to watch!
Luna’s light-filled studio in Barcelona’s Poble Nou has a really special energy, filled with towering sculptures and shining works that exude a strong sense of having a history and a life of all of their own.
Visiting artists’ studios is one of our favourite aspects of what we do at The Art Büro. It’s truly a privilege to enter the creative universe of an artist, which inevitably has enormous influence on their process.
We know how seeing a piece-in-progress or understanding the way an artist works can build an even stronger connection to their work. This can be a magical experience for our clients when choosing a meaningful piece for their own collections.
If you’d like to learn more about Luna’s work or are interested in starting (or growing) your art collection, please get in touch! We would love to collaborate and support you in your art journey!
You might also enjoy some of our other artist studio visits in Barcelona - including Gabriel Pereyra, Xavi Ceerre and Viani’s monochromatic studio hidden behind a tattoo parlour.
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