Cristina Grisar makes her way across universes
If somebody asked Madrid-born painter and jeweler Cristina Grisar what her grandmother — Presidential Medal of Merit for Art and Culture awardee Betsy Westendorp — has taught her, she would answer: “a lot of unspoken things.”
Grisar explains that her family was so heavily immersed in art that a very young Cristina thought this was but the norm. “It was so normal to me. My mom’s also a painter. My dad’s an art collector. My cousin is a renowned photographer. It was just part of the landscape. And I was used to seeing my lola (Betsy) paint.”
Everyone painted, she adds, even her “fairy” godmother. Cristina laughs at her last sentence. “Too much Cinderella,” she quips.
At first, Cristina couldn’t “find” herself in that context of growing up in an artistic household, the weight of the world pressing upon her shoulders. And then jewelry became a personal language.
“It became my thing.”
As a kid, Grisar collected a lot of shiny things, stones, and little trunks. She says she was always been fascinated with preciousness, with the essence of things and life, the symbolic beyond, “the transcendental part that comes along with something.”
Her solo exhibition titled “The Bejewelled Cosmos” opens on Feb. 12, 6 p.m., at ArtistSpace, second floor, Glass Wing of the Ayala Museum. The exhibit features her latest works in cosmologic and abstract expressions via paintings and photography as well as “organicist and armor-like pieces” from her contemporary jewelry collections.
Her cosmic paintings stand side-by-side with artworks that deal with a more personal cosmos. The pieces were painted in Madrid and Santiago, Chile, where Grisar received her Master’s in Advanced Design (MADA) at the Universidad Católica. She also worked for a Chilean lifestyle and décor magazine. She says, “(Some of the paintings depict) a cosmos within me, the mental landscapes as well as the complexity, order and poetry within life.”
Loving grandma Betsy describes her granddaughter as very honest. “She is a perfectionist. And she has been studying all her life. When we talk about painting, Cristina would remark, ‘Why do you know so much?’ And I would answer her, ‘Because I’m very old.’”
Cristina calls her Lola Betsy a living inspiration.
“My sister and I used to hang out at our grandmother’s classes to paint. She was a great teacher. Her brilliance and her generosity in sharing her knowledge are just two of the many reasons people gravitate towards her. And it is a great challenge to emulate her or even keep up with her rhythm.”
Through her art, Grisar seeks to translate cosmological mysteries and capture them on canvas, mirroring them in a metaphysical way, as she believes that artistic mediums like painting, jewelry and photography serve as doorways to other realms of reality.
“My works have their own personality, their own internal life; and for me it is fundamental to be able to give birth to art and let the art live on its own. In this sense, the Spanish term for giving birth is most appropriate — dar a luz, which means to ‘deliver to light,’” she explains.
The artist characterizes her craft as jewelizing her paintings and painting her jewels. Her love for jewelry has also reflected in her other artistic creations: photographs, sculptures and textiles.
“Everything is like that with me. It’s fundamental to find something you’re good at. My boyfriend asks, ‘Why are you so galactic? Why do you have to be so shiny?’ Well, this is who I am.”
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Cristina Grisar’s “The Bejewelled Cosmos” in on view from Feb. 12 to 28 at ArtistSpace, second floor, Glass Wing of the Ayala Museum.
