BOSCO SODI

Unique, unrepeatable explorations

words Onur Baştürk

photos Alex Krotkov, Greg Delves

He paints large-scale, textured paintings. Sometimes sculptural objects... The main indispensable raw, natural material. Sawdust, wood, pulp, clay, and sometimes even solid volcanic magma collected from the volcano can form his artifacts.

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He sees the creative process as something unrepeatable and describes this process as “controlled chaos”. That is, he mixes raw materials with natural fibers and glue to create the dense surface of the paintings. As the layers of material dry, the surface begins to take shape. The textured surface, which naturally cracks, is a product of both the creative process and nature’s unpredictability. He also shapes the clay with his hands into smooth, solid cubes, which he allows to dry in the sun before firing them in a traditional brick kiln. Each cube takes on a unique identity as the material changes in color and texture during this process.

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These are the first characteristics that come to mind about Mexican artist Bosco Sodi... but of course, there are more! For example, Casa Wabi, the ‘art residency’ center for artists founded in Oaxaca. Or the unforgettable landscape of 195 stunning clay balls representing the world’s nation-states...

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I LOVE WORKING WITH CLAY

Have you focused more on sculpture and Mexican heritage traditions in recent years? Or has that always been the case?

Actually, I have always been interested in working with sculpture as an object or establishing its relationship with space. Also, the strong presence of stone figures had always attracted me, as my family took me to the Mayan ruins as a child.

The sculptures you made out of clay are very remarkable. You say that it’s in our DNA to work with clay. In fact, all the earliest sculptures in human history are made of clay. When did your connection to clay begin?

I have been working with clay since I was a child. But when we opened Casa Wabi, I encountered clay again. Because there is a great variety of artisans here. I love working with clay. Clay is a very interesting material. Because it contains four elements...

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Your clay balls, “What Goes Around Comes Around”, also exhibited at the Venice Biennale, were like old relics...

I made these clay balls, all different from each other, by hand and fired them in the kiln. At the end of the Venice Biennale, Venetians could buy one of the balls and take it home!

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You collected solidified volcanic magma from the Ceboruco volcano to make stone sculptures. How did you discover it? Is it not hard to collect?

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I was sure that I would get the rocks from this volcano. But I did not carve the rocks. I chose rocks with interesting shapes and cleaned them. Then I polished them with red and real gold glass. The idea was to create an object of desire from a rock that was organic and unique.