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COLLECTIBLE DESIGN

Gloria Cortina’s artistic expressiveness is particularly evident in the special pieces she creates for her Collectible Design series. These pieces have functional qualities – as furniture, for example – but they are always originally conceived as unique forms of sculptural or allegorical art.

They are perhaps the most profoundly concentrated expressions of Gloria’s creativity. The way she combines shapes and materials is remarkable and, crucially, the materials and forms are never used solely for their aesthetic qualities. The colours, lines and surfaces always have symbolic or cultural resonances, and the pieces often radiate a subtle aura of mystery – art inspired by deeper continuums of time and culture.

We see and sense this in pieces such as the Quiet Hummingbird Sconces, articulated in quartz, bronze and obsidian. The sconces are angular and apparently abstract in outline, but they symbolise the bird that ancient Aztecs associated with immortality, desire, and the subconscious.

The monumental Origin table is composed of two semi-circular pieces of onyx, interrupted by a sand-cast bronze piece. The table has an almost geological quality – glowing stone through which a crack in time has appeared.

The Blackhawk Console, arguably Gloria’s most powerfully graphic work, is an arched table, deeply glossy with layers of cochinilla lacquer, beneath which hangs a bronze and obsidian curtain of stylised feathers – an homage to the significance of flying birds in pre-Colombian mythology.

The artful diversity of forms and meanings in three pieces characterise the conceptual originality of Gloria Cortina’s Collectible Designs.

MUSEUM ACQUISITIONS

Gloria Cortina’s furniture pieces have been purchased for the permanent collections of internationally important museums and art galleries. They include the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Synergy Bench), Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (Blackhawk Console) and Denver Art Museum (The Bullet Cabinet).

PAST EXHIBITIONS

2023–24
TEFAFGroupMaastricht
Cristina Grajales GallerySolo – The Infinite SublimeNew York
2020-22
Cristina Grajales GallerySolo – MatterNew York
Museo Franz MayerGroup - Diseño en FemeninoMexico City
MUACGroup - Una Modernidad Hecha A ManoMexico City
PADGroup - TransatlánticoMexico City
Denver Art MuseumGroup - ReVisión: A New Look at the Art of the AmericasDenver
Cristina Grajales GalleryGroup – 20 YearsNew York
Musée Des Arts DécoratifsGroup – MAD CollectionParis
2017-19
Cooper Hewitt MuseumGroup – Nature by DesignNew York
Louvre Abu DhabiGroup – 10,000 Years of LuxuryAbu Dhabi
Design Miami / BaselGroupBasel
Salon Art + DesignGroupNew York
Cristina Grajales GalleryGroup – Encounters I, curated by Stephanie IngrassaNew York
Museo Franz MayerGroup – Neobaroque DesignMexico City
Montañas RocallosasSolo – Studio Open HouseMexico City
Travesía CuatroGroupGuadalajara
Salon Art + DesignGroupNew York
MACOGroupMexico City
Montañas RocallosasSolo – Cócteles y ConversacionesMexico City
Design Miami / BaselGroupBasel
Collective Design FairGroupNew York
Cristina Grajales GalleryGroup – Exhibitionists ShowNew York
Galería de Arte MexicanoSolo – Desde AdentroMexico City
2014-16
Salon Art + DesignGroupNew York
Design MiamiGroupMiami
Cristina Grajales GallerySolo – Gloria Cortina: From WithinNew York
Cristina Grajales GalleryGroup – Rise and ShineNew York
Cristina Grajales GalleryGroup – Spring ShowNew York
FOG Design + ArtGroupSan Francisco
Salon Art + DesignGroupNew York
Design MiamiGroupMiami
FOG Design + ArtGroupSan Francisco
Salon Art + DesignGroupNew York
Design MiamiGroupMiami