One seductress flirts with the stars.Another sultry sprite teases us with her enchanting dancing, leaving everything to our imagination. A winged woman is with child, an erotic burst of fantasy, whimsy and magic, ready to take flight. All of these fanciful concoctions, sculptured in wire and iron are poetry–their aesthetics from a Brazilian creator steeped in trauma and suffering. Metal “action figures” typically do not evoke Lost Love, resurrected lives, and edging off emotional precipices. But in the hands of Jacson de Souza these sculptures are vivid story tellers, surges of kinetic energy and profound statements about existential themes. A self-taught artist from southern Brazil, de Souza, 46, delicately wires pieces like an alchemist, hoping to infuse his work with easy to interpret messages. He takes special care to honor his materials, to treat tree trunks, branches, glass and stones with special reverence. Concerned about the environment, he looks at what Nature gives him, saying, “I’ll transform what I find into leaves, ropes, vines, clothing, hair and other props.”Nature speaks back to him, for his dragons, witches and fairies are more than inanimate sculptures. They urge him forward, ask him to create even more spirits–give him the confidence that helped his surviving various emotional upheavals. With these figures by his side, he feels empowered, able to continue experimenting with other life forms in his studio. Speaking about his development as an artist, and the future, he says, “One day the boy met a woman. He learned to be a man, through her words she took his hand and led him to a wide road. Now his horizons have widened and now this man is growing wings. He is about to fly.”His powerful sculptures already take us on far-flung adventures. To places, as Souza hints, “of getting lost” and “finding myself again.”Transformation. Rebirth. Riddles and other hidden meanings. All this is Souza giving life to metal. He can work up to 15 hours a day on a single piece, layering and layering wires, giving it hair, adornments, injecting it with motion, life, and grace. As another figure emerges from crude materials, he smiles, knowing another woman has been born. A delicate woman, one overflowing with sensuality.
Togetherness
Lovingly, and with the utmost delicacy, Mother holds her young daughter aloft. No words need to be spoken. Life awaits the girl, and her mother is giving her the precious gift of flight, the knowledge to soar and triumph.
Jackelyne
Her hair is being whipped by the ferocious winds, but the youthful girl, covered only by a few leaves, remains faithful to spreading love. Seeds of eroticism. They will replenish dreams, the sexuality of men, and so she playfully asks the wind to help her–the world needs magical objects of desire.
Vicky the Dragon Slayer
Nothing is going to stop her. Intent on discovering new paths, facing the toughest fight of her life, Vicky is free, a woman with wings, emboldened to take on dragons that try to consign her to the shadows. No more life-denying compromises for Vicky. She is Woman, gentle and strong.
Birth
Caressing her rich, fertile womb, Sarah is patiently waiting, a woman about to perpetuate the endless cycle. What comes next? Hope, Love, and of course the Unknown. Now Sarah can only continue to fondle her body, and wish for health and virtue.
Themis the Powerful One
Wielding the scale of Fate, what is Just and Reasoned, Themis, or that which “is put, put,” is no stranger to controversy and provocation. But she is masterful in her steel mesh tunic, and will prevail over all adversity–over all enslaving limitations, forcefully, with one swipe of her blade.
Stepping Out of the Darkness
Ready to visit other fairies, the red-haired temptress is poised to charm us, to take us to a land we have never visited. One of unimaginable imaginations and sweet delights–to her secret forest where the music plays on and on throughout the night.
Edited By Edward Kiersh
