//

ANA PÉREZ-QUIROGA

12/07/2014 - 31/08/2014

 

shop window paper

 

 

 

Ana Pérez-Quiroga displays “A Favor da Concórdia” (In favour of Agreement), 2014

 

In August of 2013, Changai, shop of birdcages. At the Caojiadu Flower and Bird Market the owner and manufacturer Mr.Chen show us various cages.

 

I had already visualized the cage I wanted, after looking at a number of them in classic books and gardens, where owners who are proud of their birds’ chant take the cages for a walk. It is in a cylinder-like shape, medium-sized, not big not small, with its top flat.

 

Together with my friend Catarina Leite, a profound expert of Chinese culture and fluent in Mandarin, we spent about 4 hours totally immersed in the manufacturing and improvement of the bamboo cages. The decisions that followed the choice of format, size and colour, were now lost due to the embellishments.

 

I turned the shop upside down, looking in shelves and draws for diverse elements that could subtly create an effect of a great display.

 

Screws in the shape of drops of dew and one in the shape of a gold bar, so similar to the Chinese taste, hold a circular piece of embroidered silk which stays in the interior of the top of the cage. The use of this piece has truly surprised Mr. Chen because it’s not supposed to be used on this type of cages.

 

From here onwards it was a delirious afternoon of work, with Mr. Chen challenging me through the taste of little details.

 

I chose bone zippers to connect the base, plates fitted to skirt the sliding door and a resting bar in exotic wood and still some elements in Palo-Santo to make the connection between the porcelain containers and the cages’ bars.

 

Two sets of containers for food and a bathtub in porcelain are part of the decorated, being the case that one is for the winter and the other is for the summer.

 

But it’s in the kit of the wooden support and metallic hanger, used for holding the cage, in which resides the major aesthetic interest, being able to achieve great values. My choice has fallen on a carving work made to sandalwood, created by a master with reputation. For the metallic hanger, another master has worked the bronze, giving shape to ribbed lines.

 

By feeling that I was tired, Mr Chen sat me down in a lounge chair, which I really liked and, in the end, which I bought.

 

But for the birds inside the cages to be able to sleep it is necessary to keep them with a cover for protecting them of the light. It was here that my creation in terms of textiles took place.

 

I had seen in Suzhou, at the art museum, a baldachin that inspired me. I bought the blue cotton and pink silk textiles to trim with an orange silk lace, such as the mother-of-pearl’s buttons.

 

In the neighbourhood’s tailor, at Yu Yuan Rd 1032, Mr Li, after a long talk, all made of drawings and models, agreed to make me the cover. The result was so surprising that, proudly, he would show the cage with the cover to all locals that would walk by the street. He explained to me, embarrassed, that it had been more expensive to make than we had agreed but, it was clear, that the work was perfect!

 

Technical Information Sheet:

 

Cage for birds in bamboo, bone zippers, resting bar in rosewood, embroidered silk top, decorative elements in palo-santo and bamboo, brass screws, containers for food and drink in porcelain, bronze hanger assembled in a tailored sandal wood support. Cover to cover the cage in a blue cotton textile and pink silk, mother-of-pearl buttons. A glass and stainless steel aquarium. Cat game in a red silk lace, assembled with rubber suckers. Blue Water Paint nr. 5.

PT | EN

© A MONTRA 2013