The magic of the four elements is renewed in the engraving “Zodiac” by Maria Bernardino, winner of the Young Art Award, from the CPS, in 2019. In the set of 36 pieces she dedicated to this theme, Water, Earth, Fire, Air and the respective signs of the Zodiac take on the role symbolism of the colors associated with them. Red from the crackling fire that feeds all passions and from the intensity and brilliance of life itself, blue from water, the color par excellence of the imagination, starting point of the great journey of dreams and cradle of all living forms, yellow gold, solar and alchemical of a land whose destiny is expand and make all your creatures vibrate! light of a star that is emblem of totality and the divine, gray air that within its transparent atmosphere is; source of great mutations, metaphor of small and great mysteries.

The artist renews a tradition of many centuries that is today reborn in the purification and magic of her signs that are simultaneously plastic and poetic.

Maria João Fernandes

AICA - International Association of Art Critics

Text by the Artist:

According to the classical definition, Astrology is A pseudoscience according to which the relative positions of celestial bodies provide information about personality, human relationships and other spheres, both personal and transpersonal. It can be considered a divinatory activity, when used as an oracle, but it can also be used as a tool for understanding human affectivity, which highlights emotional aspects, comparing certain tendencies with elements of each individual's personality .

Zodiac was carried out along a journey of discovery of the elements that make up the horoscope: affinities (tendencies of each sign), aspects (distances between the angles of each planet), planets (which live in parallel with the signs), houses (which divide the sky of the astrological map) and the horizon line (from where the ascendant emerges, which makes the map precise). Between interpretative freedom and the heritage of a long tradition governed by mathematically exact elements, Zodiac is unique. the result of the trip that seeks to be similar to the astrologer's task — interpret, set the tone in an intuitive and inspired way, playing with the field of possibilities existing in the astrological universe.

Maria Bernardino, Dec. 2021