Obsee Eruption : Mateusz Wiewiorowski

Norwegian visual poet Mateusz Wiewiorowski opens his first solo exhibition in Mexico City. Obsee Eruption: sculptures of the spirit world.

Wiewiorowski has been developing thought-provoking, visually-stunning, and sensually- attractive projects for the past decade, his approach often drawing inspiration from place and geography: the monumental fjords of his native Norway, the lush jungles of Quintana Roo, and now, the volcanic range of mountains surrounding the capital city.

Working with noble material like granite, raw flexible wood, or precious metals like copper, Wiewiorowski is able to translate the ethereal qualities of light, air, and emotion into tangible form. His latest Obsee Eruption demonstrates a maturation of these traits.

Carving, cutting, and polishing these deeply-charged and metaphysically-powerful obsidian stones into monolithic bases, then burning, bending and twisting copper pipes into crowning ornaments. The tension between the glass stone massing and angular copper extrusions makes for a strong visual contrast.

Visiting the ancient obsidian mines of the Aztec, Wiewiorowski immediately felt the heavy attractiveness of the stone – how it pulls you in like gravity –and was possessed by curiosity about its physical properties, its cultural origin and its significance in conversation with the local miners:

Wiewiorowski was convinced on combining these two disparate materials.

«I set out to communicate sense through shape and explain insight through visual creation. Exploring different planetary perspective and reinterpret them into sculptural metaphoric objects.»

The path leading to this tension began in Tulum, where Wiewiorowski was finishing his commission work as visual storyteller and designer, and where he happened to befriend Chris Felt, another Norwegian who had spent the last four years traveling and writing in Mexico. After six months of conversations they decided to embark on a partnership in art.

Having spent the past years working with lively materials that are natural to the jungle surroundings of Tulum, Wiewiorowski was now eager to return to one of his most beloved expressive materials, copper. It is the earliest metal sourced by humans, thousands of years ago, and to this day connects people as conductor of heat and electricity.

The deep metaphors of connection resonated even stronger with Wiewiorowski now than before, having gone through multi- perspective times and fundamental changes in his view of the future. He needed a womb to carry the copper, a grounding contrast set in stone, and as it turned out, he found the perfect yin to his yang as they were traveling through the mountains enveloping the capital city.