2010 - By María Cánepa

Por María Cánepa

Masks—Sculptures and Poems by artist Marta Díez and poet Rubén Vela, edited by AEC, 50 pages.
This attractive, colourful, oversize bilingüal book, printed on glossy paper, is an original publication of art with poetry with Marta Díez’s masterpieces and Ruben Vela’s writing.
Marta Díez, responsible for this collection, is from Tucumán, Argentina, and has done a great deal of research in different countries. She was awarded the Champagnat Prize for oil painting in 1993 and in 2004 the San Martín de Tours prize for her masks. Part of her work appeared in several books, such as Argentine Art and its Protagonists, Argentine Art to the World, and Euro-American Art, among others. Díez studied in Tucumán, Buenos Aires and Venice.
Rubén Vela, poet and art critic was born in the beautiful city of Santa Fe, Argentina. He is co-founder of Fundación Argentina para la Poesía (Argentine Foundation for Poetry) and was awarded, among others, first prize by the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires; the Estebán Echeverríia grand prize of honour for his entire work, and another grand prize of honour from the Sociedad Argentina de Escritores (Argentine Society of Writers).
Vela’s brief complementary poems and some prose accompanying Díez’s works of art are deep, illuminating, and informative. They are very well translated, as are the other parts of the book, and this again offers the speakers and students of English and Spanish an excellent opportunity to learn and enjoy both languages.
Some of Díez’s works have American, African or Asian influence and others have a distinct 18th century Venetian touch. As Diéz explains in her well-written Brief News at the beginning of the book , “The empty eyes of masks as they stare at nothing created in me the urge to find out what was behind them.”
Díez tells me that there was a stage in her life when she realized people had empty eyes. Indeed, the look from a mask is impersonal. I can’t help but remember Jacques Lacan’s Seminar of Anguish, in which he gives so much importance to the scopic. Lacan states that the look of a blind person does not recognize you subjectively, as there is no reflection (that is, no response).
Vela introduces in Justification, “... that solitary mask . . . which Díez recreates . . . is proof of the existence of God through its empty eyes.” And when describing Díez’s oil on canvas, Withdrawing Faces he adds, “Those faces displaying color ... each of which is original and bestows a certain joy on the hard profession of living ... “
One of my favorite works is the impressive sculpture “Stone Buddha,” made of gilded papier maché, introduced by “Buddha withdraws into himself as he enlightens the Eastern land.” Many of Díez’s works are in private collections, as is Wealth. Made of cartapesta and sequins, “the mask is being enriched ...golden ribbons go across its human foundation.”
Díez is getting her second book ready, this time handmade, to present in the 35th Symposium by the Instituto Literario y Cultural Hispánico, California State University, Domínguez Hills, to be held in Buenos Aires August 9-14, which will be coordinated by Professor Doctor Alejandro Caride, Díez’s publisher. Dr. Caride was distinguished by the Institute as a Member of Honour in 2008 and is on the same list as Borges, Bioy Casares, and Victoria and Silvina Ocampo.
The academic Epilogue, well worth reading, was written by José Emilio Burucúa. The book is available, among other places, in museums (Sivori, Fernández Blanco, and Arte Decorativo), Acme bookshop and British Arts Center.