February 2011

Furman University in Greenville, SC, Offers Works by Diana Farfán

Furman University in Greenville, SC, is presenting the exhibit, The Toy Republic, featuring sculptures by Diana Farfán, dealing with the impact of social and class stratification in ceramic forms, on view in the University’s Roe Art Building, Thompson Gallery, through Feb. 17, 2012.

Through the use of primarily ceramics along with mixed mediums, Farfán’s surrealistic forms show the plight of people as they are impacted by societal and class hierarchies.

Born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, Farfán received her BFA at the National University of Colombia and her MFA in ceramics at the University of South Carolina. Her two- and three-dimensional works have been shown and awarded in a number of exhibitions in places including Colombia, SC, the US, and Taiwan. Farfán lives and works in Greenville.

Farfán offered the following artist’s statement: “In addition to my passion for clay, there are also some major themes that I have sought to communicate with my art. These are: our human condition (how we cope with the overwhelming environment of dysfunctional societies); the human body itself (how our physiology is a projection of our inner state); and the efficient or inefficient way we connect with others and with ourselves (how we reveal our feelings, hopes, loves, and fears).”

“My pieces are a bridge that helps me to understand my need to communicate, with figurative ceramics, the metaphoric manipulation of the human being. My intent with this work is to cause viewers to consider the reality of our emotional defenses and how they change us, making us something other than purely human.”

“With my toys, I incorporate both classical and contemporary elements to represent the human body. Their disproportional bodies are intended to raise questions about the ambiguous identity of modern life, social ambivalence, distorted reality, and the effects of mass media on our interpersonal relationships and minds.”

“Their heads, torsos and limbs are articulated at the joints with exaggerated industrial artifacts (screws, nuts, bolts, hooks, lenses, etc.) that invoke the complexity of our mundane lives and their adaptations to a world more mechanical, industrial, and materialistic. My marionettes, puppets and dolls remind us of subjugation, which deprives us of self-determination.”

“I attempt to develop my own manner and technique of representation through a figurative, symbolic and surrealist style. My work has been based on the purpose of communicating my point of view through the essential components of form and content. The central focus of this journey has been ceramics, and it has now become intertwined with my day-to-day life observations.”

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call gallery at 864/294-2074, or visit (http://dianafarfan.com/).

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