Parsons' Caridad Sola

Courtesy of the artist

Caridad Sola, "Pillow Fight" (2005)

Courtesy of the artist

Caridad Sola, "Perdida" (2005)

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Dark soil wrapped in white sheets, bricks suspended in air by delicate sheer ribbon, a red-feathered pillow fight in a white room and gallons of water contained in the holes of giant inner tubes: I expose the buried memories that everyday objects hold.

I invite viewers to feel the materials I use: stick their hands into water, walk barefoot on pillows, feel the slight roll of freshly cut sugarcane underneath their feet; smell the feathers, the soil, the cane; and hear the sound of a beating heart or water lapping. In the transformation of these spaces, I create experiences.

I have a passion for the grandiose, the dramatic and the theatrical. I expose viewers to rituals, collective memories and metaphors. But like memories, these experiences will not last. Installations are ephemeral; after they are de-installed all that remains are memories, documentation and artifacts. From bricks to pillows, I want to create an unforgettable experience and awaken senses.

Artist's Biography:

The Miami- and New York City-based multi-media visual artist and graduate architect was born in 1980 in Miami. She considers her greatest influences to be her parents, who left Cuba in 1960 seeking political asylum and have lived in Miami ever since.

Sola has always had a passion for contemporary fine art and architecture and is currently focusing on mixed-media installation. She has exhibited in a variety of places, such as the Lowe Art Museum in Miami, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Center, NYC's Heidi Cho Gallery and A.I.R. Gallery, and the Arts + Literature Laboratory Gallery in New Haven, Conn. More recently she was awarded the “Best of Show” designation at the “Made in NY 2006” exhibition at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, N.Y.

Interested in both art and architecture, in 2003 Sola completed a dual-degree program at the University of Miami, earning undergraduate degrees in both subject areas. She then moved to New York City to pursue her passion for the arts and in 2006 earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Parsons School of Design. Currently, she is in the process of earning two additional graduate degrees: a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from New York University and a Master of Science in Construction Engineering and Management from Columbia University.

About the Parsons School of Design:

Parsons focuses on creating engaged citizens and outstanding artists, designers, scholars and business leaders through a design-based professional and liberal education.

Parsons students learn to rise to the challenges of living, working and creative decision making in a world where human experience is increasingly designed. The school embraces curricular innovation, pioneering uses of technology, collaborative methods and global perspectives on the future of design.

Descriptions of the Work Pictured Here: 

In Gods We Trust
In Gods We Trust (2006) diminishes the divisions and hierarchies of the great religions of the world. Nineteen sacred texts from 14 religions are bound in chronological order, emulating the history of mans’ relationship to religion. All religions basically hold the same message and each have similar core values, no matter what God (or Gods) you believe in. The scriptures sit on a 22 kt. gold-leafed night table, with Darwin’s Origin of Species propped under one table leg, keeping the table level. The night table drawer is small and closed, and it is obvious that this book can not be shoved away, hidden in a drawer, as seen in most hotels. Flowing to and from the book are more pages, as if the “words of Gods” are descending to man, or the “words of men” are ascending to God. Unfortunately, we still live in a world filled with religious conflict and turmoil, even though each religion preaches peace. To some, the pages that fall from the ceiling and down into the book echo the events that took place as the Twin Towers collapsed. This piece was originally installed just down the street from the New York Stock Exchange, which inspired the title, In Gods We Trust, referring to the debate of whether the phrase should be removed from our currency.

Pillow Fight
The performance Pillow Fight (2005) brings the tradition of a typical, yet violent childhood game back to the participants and the observers by asking them abandon what they know as proper social behavior for adults and engage in past childhood activity.

These Are Their Stories
When I moved to New York City, I began collecting bricks from all over the world and realized that I was fascinated by a tactile sense of history that I felt within the material, and I wanted to express its individuality. In the installation These Are Their Stories (2005) each brick has its own history, story and life. In a way they are like people, each one being a product of its culture. Some have a longer history: who made them, where they were used and for what purpose, when they were taken out of their location, and where they were collected. Other, newer bricks have shorter stories or even unknown stories. The length of each story can be seen by the length of the ribbons hanging down from each brick. The installation emphasizes that they are being supported, rather than supporting a structure—as in their usual function—allowing the weight of each brick to be expressed, and at the same time contradicting their mass by looking virtually weightless. I feel that each one of them represents a suspended soul. I do not want the viewer to merely observe the installation, I want them to engage with it. I would like viewers to walk through the space, take their shoes off and let the sand pass through their toes. Pass their fingers over the fabric; read the text on the ribbons. Examine the bricks; touch their surfaces and even smell them.

Perdida
In search of memories of my family’s past, Perdida (2005) was the result of an exploration of my Cuban heritage. When entering the installation one is forced to walk on top of the freshly-cut sugarcane that has been carefully sewed together with twine. It feels sturdy yet instable, and as you cross over into this space you become aware of your own footsteps, emphasizing the thought of a passage. And as you look into the center of the inner tubes you realize that they contain water, contradicting their usual function as floatation devises. Hundreds of images and documents are submerged in the water. Family photographs, diplomas, letters and advertisements are just a few of the types of items you will find here. These precious memories have been discarded as if they no longer have any importance. You are invited to submerge your own hands into the water and fish out the memories the same way I had to. The sound of water is continuously heard adding an eerie feeling to the piece. Symbolically water is the distance between the place with these memories and where I stand. Yet these memories have sadly been washed away, and those lives and that place no longer exist.