The artist Margarida Lopes Pereira describes herself as a person very influenced by her surrounding and the everyday objects living in it. Growing up in Lisbon, a city characterized by a rich ceramic culture and filled with beautiful tiles, made an important impact on her life. While doing her bachelor's in Caldas da Rainha, another city moved by the ceramic context, she began exploring the magical world of ceramics and decided to learn how to paint the traditional tiles she had been surrounded by all her life. This discovery was a step into the world of creation and just the beginning of a very impressive artistry.
Margarida Lopes Pereira
When Margarida Lopes Pereira moved from Portugal to Copenhagen, to do her Master’s degree, she found herself constantly searching for recognizable elements around her. By finding inspiration in her surrounding, she always strives to give the beholder a recognition in her art. Margarida Lopes Pereira describes this as an important element, since when we find objects familiar it also gives us the ability to decode it, which makes us feel comfortable.
By working with familiar elements and the aesthetical details that defines the expression of each piece, Margarida Lopes Pereira explores the appropriation of everyday life materials by providing them with a new meaning in a new context. She describes her practice as contemporary objects referring to old handicraft and manage to combine her cultural heritage with inventive thinking in an exquisite way.
"The archetype vase has been a constant inspiration for shapes - an omnipresent object at my family’s home. Since I was young I remember my mom going to buy flowers to have them around the house. My objects are only reminiscent of this cultural symbol, getting its own language and identity."
Today Margarida Lopes Pereira has established a distinctive voice in the artistic scene and found a material that both defines and distinguish her art: the use of recycled sponge. The concept and creation with sponge arose from a workshop where sponge was used for sketching. But Margarida Lopes Pereira saw bigger potential with the material and found the texture, both regards to aesthetically and sensory, as unique and fascinating. She describes how the sponge itself in many ways defines the aesthetics of her pieces in the way that she always needs to embrace the colours and texture of it. Margarida Lopes Pereira creates one-of-a-kind sculptures by sewing and dying wasted foam from recycling centers or industry surplus. We love the way she challenges everyday life materials by changing the contexts or the material originally applied.
The Sponge Tower-collection, made for The Ode To, shows how value can be added to the ordinary around us. Each and every one of Margarida Lopes Pereira's pieces is charged with energy and emotion and is challenging our perceptions of tactility and materials in a very exciting way.
