Sula Bermúdez-Silverman's Sculptures
Shine at Matthew Brown

Some of your recent sculptures are exceptionally tactile, incorporating transparencies, resin and even internal light sources. How long have you been working with these materials and could you tell us a little more about the process involved?

I started working with sugar in 2019 which was the beginning of using transparent and translucent materials. I would make moulds out of silicone, heat the sugar to 300 degrees, and then pour it into the moulds, at which point I would wait for them to cool. I then began working in resin to sometimes coat the sugar to make it last longer.

After working in sugar glass, I decided to start working in real glass which is a more involved process, but starts with the same moulds. I use a lost wax process to cast glass in a kiln. I pour hot wax into the moulds and then make moulds of the wax cast—out of plaster and silica. The wax is then steamed out and cleaned, the mould goes into the kiln with pieces of glass, which melt into the mould to form the piece.

Once finished, the mould is broken open, the piece is cleaned, and then depending on what I want to do with it, I usually cold work it in some capacity. I later started working with epoxy resin mostly to use as a binding agent for different 'ingredients' like spices, compounds and foods.

Are you able to tell me a little more about your use of saddles and how this relates to myths surrounding the conquistadors arriving in the Americas?

My past research and work has focused on monsters, particularly medieval monsters that many European explorers believed existed in the lands they were traversing. In this new work, I wanted to switch the perspective and think about the monsters that the indigenous people may have believed to have existed.

There is a myth that when the Spanish conquistadors first arrived in the Americas on horseback, the indigenous people believed the two beings, man and horse, were one–centaurs. I began to think about the object that separates the two beings—the saddle.

Through researching the history of the western saddle I became very interested in the many different influences that made the object what it is today. I'm fascinated by the way that ubiquitous objects have little-known and loaded histories and that conquest history is so ridden with myths, particularly regarding horses.

And where is 124 Bluestone Road?

Is this doll's house connected to the group of houses in Neither Fish, Flesh, nor Fowl (2020), which was exhibited in your solo museum show at the California African American Museum, Los Angeles, in 2021.

124 Bluestone Road is the haunted home in the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison.

At the museum show in Los Angeles, 124 Bluestone Road (2020) was the only glass house among the nine doll's houses cast in sugar. There are only two doll's houses that I made out of glass, one was in Neither Fish Flesh nor Fowl and one was in my 2021 solo show, Sighs and Leers and Crocodile Tears at Murmurs, Los Angeles.

Much of your work uses evocative found objects. Do you consider your vocation as an artist bound by roles as an archivist or preservationist?

I consider myself a collector, but not so much a preservationist or archivist because I'm not so good at taking care of objects. I've learned from using ephemeral materials that relinquishing control is the best thing to do if you don't want to get frustrated.

What's next for you? Any exhibitions to look forward to in the next year?

I have a solo show at Josh Lilley in London in November 2023.—[O]