Ceres Gallery

Micaela de Vivero creates art that draws you into a world which reflects an artist engaging the population of earth, in its social and political struggle as well as her own critical perspective. Vivero, creates stunning, thought provoking installations using a variety of materials. In her work, she explores global issues such as migration and climate change with a unique sensitivity.   The magic of her work, is the way she turns unusual materials into metaphorical gold, like an alchemist searching for the right formula. As you enter the exhibit you are surrounded with a world that is filled with objects transformed, as if you are in a laboratory of inventions. The materials speak to dream-quality experiences, and contrasted with the experience of universal struggle, the effect reflects the poetics of hope amidst tragedy.

There is Always a Part of Sky to Soar has a tone of nostalgia. Vivero uses this tone because she is critical of the euro-centric perspective that still dominates most of our world. She is passionate about possibilities for answers.

This installation consists of two parts, each laboriously crocheted by the artist.  In the first part she has used copper wire to create shapes that morph from airplanes into birds. For the second part of the installation Vivero has researched the rate at which glaciers in the high Andes and particularly in Ecuador, are melting. Out of used clothing she has created forms that resemble mountains like  Cotopaxi, Chimborazo and Antisana. Each of the mountains is color coded, making evident what has happened to those glaciers in the last 60 years.  By re-creating a spectacular landscape, Vivero makes reference to the work by European naturalists that studied the Americas in the 18^th century like for example Alexander von Humboldt or La Condamine by using observation, but also personal perspectives. These naturalists traveled the Americas together with artists that documented what they saw, and created artwork that became the way people in Europe learned about the new continent. Vivero raises questions of how biased such a view might be. At that time the paintings were supposed to resemble the real natural world of the continent, but interpretation was inevitable.

In that same manner, There is always a part of sky to soar has its own perspective which is the voice of this artist, and reminds us all of our views in this context of how our witness to events can be interpreted.

Micaela de Vivero was born in Munich, Germany, grew up in Quito, Ecuador, and now lives in Granville, Ohio, where she is Associate Professor at Denison University. Vivero holds a BA from Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Studio Art and a MFA from Alfred University in Sculpture. She has been an artist in residence at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha, NE, at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Ireland, at the Chretzeturm in Stein am Rhein, Switzerland, at Koli Ryynaanen in Koli, Finland, at the Rondo Marienmühle in Graz, Austria and at the Acoss Foundation in Yerevan, Armenia. She has exhibited her work in Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, the USA, Ireland, Finland, Austria, Spain and Armenia. She is a UNESCO-Aschberg grant receipient.