Maker’s Spotlight – Bosco Sodi

Bosco Sodi is a Mexican artist who is well known for his large-scale paintings; however, it is the 2017 collection that we found particularly striking. For “Caryatides,” Sodi uses a minimalistic approach.

Each sculpture begins with Sodi extracting raw earth and mixing it with sand and water to form clay. The clay is shaped and smoothed by hand; then, it is formed into solid cubes that are left outside of his Oaxacan studio to air-dry. The hot Mexican sun bakes the cubes until they reach a point where they are ready to be fired in a traditional Mexican brick oven kiln.

Unique to Sodi’s process is that along with wood, jacaranda seeds and coconut shells are placed in the kiln. The addition of these materials allows the cubes to marinate. Rather than simple colors, the bricks come out in a variety of terra-cotta hues, streaks of green and black, and a multitude of fissures inside. All of these distinct colors gives each cube its very own personality.

Historically, caryatids were draped female figures that took the place of architectural columns. Sodi’s caryatides are not used for architectural support; rather, they are beautiful pieces of art. What makes them even more special is that Sodi’s work is often influenced by the Japanese viewpoint of wabi-sabi… a world view centered upon accepting imperfection. Along those lines, each earthen cube represents one unit of mass… stacked in columns, these cubes tell the story of a system of building which has endless geometrical options.

Grouped together, the caryatides emit a sense of serenity and provide a unique meditative space. The creations are gleaned from the theory that natural accidents occur when you work with organic materials. You never know what to expect, and not knowing how the final result will transpire is all part of Sodi’s unusual, unique, and artistic path.