From the 19th to the 28th of this month, the International Fair of Flowers (FLORA) 2018, in Córdoba (Southern Spain), is being celebrated.
Córdoba
Poster of FLORA 2018
This year, the motto of the Fair is: "The game".
There have been several artists, exposing their creations with flowers in different patios –specifically 6-- of the city.
The patios of Cordoba awaited their second spring and the last Friday, punctual to their appointment, opened their doors to those who already wanted to know the creations of the second edition of the International Fair of Flowers, FLORA. Since 11:00 hours, Cordovans and tourists have visited the six installations of contemporary floral artists who, installed in many other institutional courtyards of the city, have left no one indifferent. Flora rediscovers again the beauty of Cordoba's courtyards.
We started our tour in the Clock Court of the Provincial Council, where the Russian artist, Natalia Zhizhko, has installed the composition “Here comes the sun”. Inspired by the sundial, that gives its name to the patio, the creation resembles seven rays of the sun, playing with flowers of different shades from pale yellow to the brightest, as are the tones of the sun according to the time of day. From orchids to carnations, the flowers come alive within those sunbeams and also play around the courtyard fountain.
The Palace of the Council
Work by Natalia Zhizhko at the Palace of the Council
Natalia Zhizhko working
In another of the spaces that compete in Flora, the Patio de las Columnas of the Palacio de Viana, the creation of the Chinese Honghui You, known as Sherlovell, takes shape with its installation “Flowing“ (Fluido). Because the flow of water, in the rectangular fountain on which the creation is installed, is the guiding thread of this work, where the red colour takes center stage, compared to the transparency of the water and the circular structures used to support the flowers. Red flowers --many zinnias--, that drink from small crystal spheres and that expand along the fountain, playing with the flow of water, with the waves of their movement and the waves of the relaxing sound of the falling water.
Sherlovell Yu´s work at the Palacio de Viana
Sherlovell Yu´s work close up
Honghui-Yu (“Sherlovell”)
A snapshot of nature is what can be found in the Palacio de Orive, where the Cordovan Lola Guerrera has created “Perseidas”. Mosses and stones make up a base for plants, with a predominantly intense green colour, and where live flowers and dried flowers, collected by the artist, are protagonists. As the Perseids fall in the sky, on this creation falls a shower of small flowers and dry leaves, as if one of those stars was treated and could be traced from the same sky. And, a curiosity, from the heights --in the upper floor of the Orive Palace, that overlooks the courtyard-- small telescopes show the visitor how the nature, that is mixed, is also composed of small insects.
Work by Lola Guerrera in the Palace of Orive
Work by Lola Guerrera from below
Lola Guerrera with two works of her
Advancing in the route, it is the turn of the patio of the Posada del Potro. Here, the Japanese, Hideyuki Niwa, has installed “The Impulse of Passion”, a creation made of 10,000 branches of red dogwood, that cover a spiral structure, on which stand out yellow flowers --glorious--, that drink from small test tubes arranged in the installation. Simplicity has guided the author, in this creation that centers all the protagonism of this centennial courtyard.
The work by Hideyuki Niwa The Second prize
Hideyuki Niwa
Many more elements are those used by the British Carly Rogers, in her installation in the courtyard of the Archaeological Museum. “Capricho” is the name of a creation, that recreates an English garden and where, from a huge sphere of green moss, all kinds of plants and branches of trees, that show the wild nature of this wild garden, are born. From weeping willow branches, to shrubs with fruits and flowers, overflow this creation, that stands out among the white marble of the patio and the archaeological pieces of the building.
The work by Carly Rogers in the Archaeological Museum
Carly Rogers
The colours are precisely the protagonists of the last patio in competition. The Art School Mateo Inurria welcomes the creation of the Belgian, Mark Colle, in his garden, which with “Los niños del parque” (“The children of the park”) wanted to represent just that, a playground. But an empty playground, abandoned, where he has given life with roses, hydrangeas, carnations or brightly colored chrysanthemums to the swings and games of a playground, in which, however, wild plants are entangled above them, because no child has been playing there for a long time. Their voices and their games, however, are present in the ambient sound that this author has put as part of his message, vindicating the traditional games between children, in front of the solitude of these in front of a computer screen or ipad.
The work by Mark Colle in the School Mateo Inurria
Another angle of the work by Mark Colle
Another work by Mark Colle in Mateo Inurria
Mark Colle The First Prize
Messages and creations, flowers and plants, come back to surprise in this second edition who visits the patios of FLORA. Today, Friday, the Exhibition of these floral art works, which could be visited from 11 to 20 hours, is closed.
I do not know if you can go to this Fair –perhaps the next year--, but I hope that you can go to Cordoba, as soon as possible, because Cordoba is a wonder, it is ”Pure Art”.
Until my next post, kind regards,
Luis.
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