LZF’s Life-Size and Candelabro sculptures on show at Valencia’s Museum of Fine Arts

July 12, 2022. Published by Gerard McGuickin

As part of World Design Capital Valencia 2022, LZF is showing pieces from its Life-Size collection and its Candelabro in the grand foyer of Valencia’s Museum of Fine Arts (from 16th June–9th October). In this unique exhibition, LZF’s sculptural, handcrafted lamps are a playful display of unparalleled craftsmanship. Their placement in the museum’s foyer add a wonderfully contemporary dimension to its otherwise solemn artistic oeuvre.

Life-Size, Valencia’s Museum of Fine Arts

LZF’s Life-Size Big Bird and Koi at Valencia’s Museum of Fine Arts.

Valencia’s Museum of Fine Arts (Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia) is a historic cultural institution that was created in 1837. The second largest art gallery in Spain, it houses artworks from the 15th–19th centuries. The museum is particularly notable for its collection of Renaissance paintings and Gothic art rooms, as well as works by Valencian artist Joaquín Sorolla and Spanish artist Francisco de Goya. Since 1946, the former Seminary College of St. Pius V, a beautiful 17th century baroque building designed by Valencian architect Juan Bautista Pérez Castiel, has housed Valencia’s Museum of Fine Arts.

Life-Size

LZF’s Life-Size collection is made with a classic woodcarving technique employed by Fallas artisans called vareta. The Fallas artisan is unique to Valencia—vareta is a traditional skill in which fine wooden strips are used to reproduce the shape (or ‘skin’) of the object they reflect.

Koi was designed by Inocuo The Sign in collaboration with Mariví Calvo.

LZF first used the vareta technique to create the majestic Koi. Designed by Inocuo The Sign (in collaboration with LZF co-founder and creative director Mariví Calvo), Koi was launched in 2015 and measured more than 3 1/2 metres in length. This LZF masterpiece is joined in the museum foyer by the Life-Size Big Bird (vertical and horizontal), designed by the artist Isidro Ferrer.

Big Bird (vertical) by Isidro Ferrer.

Big Bird (horizontal) by Isidro Ferrer.

Candelabro

LZF’s Candelabro hangs with aplomb in the foyer of Valencia’s Museum of Fine Arts. A showpiece for LZF’s work with natural wood veneer, Candelabro was imagined by Mariví Calvo. A lamp that embodies LZF’s love for avant-garde concepts and playful forms, Candelabro is a composition of six different LZF lamps: Agatha, Minimikado, Pod, Poppy, Raindrop, and Totem. Calvo further embellished the Candelabro with the addition of several charming ceramic birds, each one finished in a gold glaze.

The Candelabro by Mariví Calvo.

LZF’s exhibition sits alongside ‘Diseño, seda y flores’, another exhibit at Valencia’s Museum of Fine Arts. Here, the museum takes the visitor on a journey through the part of its collections closely associated with pre-industrial and industrial design, when flowers were applied to fabrics.