Architecting art with light

BARDULA IS A PSEUDONYM, CREATED BY A BELGIAN ARTIST BORN IN ZURICH AND BASED IN BRUSSELS UNTIL 199З, NEW YORK UNTIL 2002, AND PARIS EVER SINCE. HER TRAINING AS A GOLD- AND SILVERSMITH WOULD INSTIL AN INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUE AND CHOICE OF MEDIUM, METAL, THAT WOULD SUBSEQUENTLY EVOLVE OVER THE YEARS BY WAY OF AN AUTODIDACTIC APPROACH.The hybrid nature of her work, which has emerged in time, places it at the point at which light sculpture, architecture and gold- and silversmithing meet. It is an autonomous creation, in which technique, materials and relationships of scale strive to present an internal vision in concrete form, according to a mathematical schematization of space by geometric construction.At all times, emphasis is placed on matter itself, on the molecular purity of metal combined with the geometric purity of the straight line and the symmetrical and orthogonal form, as well as its symbiotic relationship with light.Since 2012, Bardula has collaborated with an architect and scenographer whom she met in Paris shortly after her return from New York in 2002. With a degree in architecture from the Ecole des Beaux- Arts in Paris, it was his attraction to scenographic 3D modelling and light that would lead, following a stint at Ora-ito, to the gradual coincidence of his world with that of Bardula, giving birth to a conceptual and technological symbiosis.Bardula’s recent work is the result of the union and collaboration of two artists, a gold- and silversmith and an architect. Bardula’s work is designed and produced at her studio in the south of Paris.Since the end of 2015, Bardula has been represented by the Swiss gallery La Ligne, located in ZQrich and specialising in geometric Art Concret and Constructive Art. The gallery showed Bardula’s work for the first time at the 2016 Art Paris Art Fair at the Grand Palais.Her latest projects are a series of light installations for the Baccarat Hotel, New York, designed by the architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, in collaboration with the interior designers Gilles & Boissier 20 West 53rd Street, NYC and a monumental kinetic light installation in the entrance of Moncler flagship store in collaboration with the interior designers Gilles & Boissier and the lighting consultancy Light iQ at 650 Madison Avenue, NYC.Q&ARAINE: Having lived around the world, what city has influenced your work the most and why?BARDULA: The city that has influenced my work the most is New York City, a place where anyone can re-invent oneself, where any dream can happen: the legend is real. New York felt like home to me, more than my place of origin (Brussels). This is where my work shifted toward what it has become now, where I understood the direction to take to find my artistic identity.RAINE: Who inspired your artistic skills growing up?BARDULA: My artistic skills were inspired by my great grand-father who was an art collector. I would meet him in his exquisite home in Brussels or a posh hotel in Paris and he would take me to the Louvre museum or a ballet at the Opera. Visiting the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, a masterpiece of the Wiener Werkstatte art movement, built by the architect Joseph Hoffmann in 1907, has also been a great influence on the way I related to art. In this house, a jewel of Art Total, every piece of furniture, silverware, sculpture or painting is custom made to form one unique work of art together with the architecture. This is what pushed me to become a silversmith, my first skill.RAINE: What was the most difficult or challenging time period in your journey as an artist? How did you get through it?BARDULA: The most challenging times for me have been these past few years because, as many doors opened to me, I had to step through them and deliver. I couldn’t have done it without my husband’s help (an architect). Two people can accomplish more, and the amount of work that we accomplished lately would have been impossible just by myself.RAINE: What would you describe as your big break?BARDULA: My big break was a series of kinetic light installations - commissioned in 2014 by the Baccarat Hotel New York on 53rd street.RAINE: Is their one person that has helped your art career the most? If so, who are they and what was the most important thing they did?BARDULA: The person who helped my career the most has been Dorothee Boissier, from the Parisian interior design firm Gilles & Boissier, which she leads with her husband Patrick Gilles (they are also a creative couple !). She believed in my work and hired me to be part of the Baccarat project. I admire the way Dorothee and Patrick have built a business with amazing projects around the world. They are really wonderful people, in every way, and I feel honored to have worked with them.RAINE: What aspirations do you have for the future?BARDULA: I have two aspirations for the future : the first is to work with more galleries around the world ; it would be great if I could find one in New York to be as a good fit as my gallery in ZQrich, La Ligne. The second aspiration would be to keep working on art installations such as the ones I did with interior designers Gilles & Boissier : the Baccarat Hotel and, in 2016, the monumental installation for the new Moncler’s flagship store on Madison at 59th street. These projects are truly interesting because they are commissioned installations, a kind of artwork that can occur only within a specific context.RAINE: Please describe your favorite piece of art, when you created and what makes it special to you?BARDULA: My favorite artwork is Solaris, the monumental kinetic light installation created in the fall of 2016 for the Moncler flagship store in Manhattan. The main reason I love Solaris is that it belongs to a public space, everybody that walks by can see it. In a way it is art for the people. It changes the way one views retail stores, with art as a part of its identity.RAINE: How should a young art best prepare themselves to be represented by a gallery?BARDULA: I think that young artists should best prepare themselves by going to art school, where they will start building the bases of their network which is an essential part, like in any other trade, of an artist’sdevelopment. The rules of the art world are complex because the subject itself -art- is so subjective, but also very defined. It is sort of a language with a strict grammar that can be learned with experience but it helps a lot starting early, in schoolRAINE: What do you miss most about New York?BARDULA: I miss the kindness and the open-mindedness of the New Yorkers, and the most beautiful architecture in the world and the positive energy of the city!RAINE: How can someone find the right partner to collaborate with when it comes to creating original pieces of work?BARDULA: For me, to find the right partner to work with was a very long process. My husband and I have been together for 15 years ; he was always drawn to my work which made us bond from the very beginning. He knows my work inside out, followed my creative process through the years and when the time came that I needed a work partner, he was just obviously designated, as he is my other half - my alter ego -in every way. We complete each other perfectly with different skills (his tools are 3D and infography, mine are metal shaping and LED technology) and have been able to be much more productive together.RAINE: What's the worst thing about the "artist" lifestyle and how does someone overcome that?BARDULA: The worst thing about being an artist these days is the business side of it.One has to work on public relations, commercial, production, leaving often not enough space for creativity and conception, which is the essence. The other difficult thing, but that is specific to my work, is that the manufacturing of most of my artworks is very physically demanding, lifting heavy materials, working with dangerous tools which demand extreme concentration with repetitive processes like sanding, filing, sawing and drilling metal.RAINE: What words of wisdom can you share with other creative entrepreneurs?BARDULA: My words of wisdom to creative entrepreneurs is to believe in yourself more than anything, to give your work everything you have and to keep trying harder at one thousand percent of yourself, like your life depends on it, which is true, because being an artist is a calling, and without it a part of you would die.