Daria Fontaine Pasquali
Suspends tes jugements
2022
Wooden furniture found on the street
Aluminum, dried flowers, porcelain, yarn dyed with hair dye
Cabinet: 39′ x 23.6″
Coffee table: 19.7″ x 17.7″
Small pillows adorned with flowers:
4” x 4”.
Installation dimensions variable
Artist statement
This installation invites the viewer to spend a moment with objects that evoke intimate and sensual interactions. These objects, which have smooth or prickly surfaces, contain secret words to be deciphered, suggesting a latent desire. They arouse the viewer's curiosity, inviting them to connect with their senses to establish an intimate relationship. This work is a romantic scene, repeated over and over again. On a coffee table, a hairbrush has an engraved inscription: "We are not sisters we are lovers." Very often, queer relationships are defined by another's gaze. Here, the brush symbolizes a caring attention in the intimacy of a queer bubble where time has stopped. Dried flowers, the result of a slow preparation, reinforce this idea. Not only do these forms of affection turn away from patriarchy, but also from capitalism and the apocalyptic destruction that follows it by proposing other modalities of care and common life. Analogous to the human body, absent from the staging, two pieces of furniture serve as supports for the objects they contain and in turn their delicate secrets, their sensual sighs, their desire to be manipulated, touched.
Artist's biography
Daria Fontaine Pasquali is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in sculpture at Concordia University. They are interested in the objects and furniture that surround us in our intimate spaces – elements that accumulate over time and that we choose, we discard, and we transform. Through these "symbolic archives," Fontaine Pasquali reappropriated domestic spaces, too often parasitized by heterocentric stereotypes and patriarchal social norms. Through their practice, they create emotionally charged and allegorical installations that feature handmade ceramic, metal and textile objects, video performances, and found and transformed objects. Within the intimate spaces that Fontaine Pasquali attempts to recreate, they rediscover their identity and sexuality. Their work is an invitation to discuss rather than share information. In March 2022, Fontaine Pasquali presented the first iteration of the sculptural series Suspend your judgments in a group exhibition at Livart. This constantly evolving body of work is informed by the artist's daily experiences and concerns.
