An original ceramic weaving won the Volf prize from arteba, which links art and crafts.

The Cordoba artist Luciano Giménez , which explores the aesthetic possibilities of local clay, is the winner of the first edition of the Volf Prize for Contemporary Art , which joins the awards given during arteba , which opens today, Wednesday, for institutions and collectors , and on Friday for the general public.

The 44-year-old artist's work upholds the established connection between art and craft , a key premise for the jury, comprised of Leandro Vainberg—director of the cutlery and tableware expert company—and Lucas Kokogian, director of the Azur Gallery, to select him.

The award focuses on practices that successfully integrate technical mastery with a contemporary artistic vision and also focuses on pieces related to gastronomy as a creative territory. For example, the utilitarian objects Giménez developed over the years, although he has recently excelled in his large-scale clay weavings .

In addition to a 3 million peso prize for the winner , the company, with more than 100 years of history in the country, will acquire several works during the fair to begin building a collection.

"I'm incredibly happy," the author told Clarín after receiving the award. Trained in Industrial Design and Fine Arts at a public university, he is a member of the Casiopea ceramics collective and the Carbonillas Project drawing collective.

His work occupies an entire wall of the Cott gallery stand at arteba, with pieces exhibited in the Corazas para algo inmenso exhibition. In addition to Macizo , the piece produced as part of the research he is conducting at the Palmar brick factory .

–Volf works to preserve the craft and also in its utilitarian aspects. Is that something that's part of your work?

–I come from the trade, and that's what I value most: my support. I've been working in ceramics for fifteen years, and discovering new techniques makes it infinite. I've gone through all the stages, from producing tableware for restaurants to teaching classes, experimenting, and surprising myself with my work. At the same time, I'm an electromechanical technician.

– How did you end up in an art career?

–I always loved being able to build with my hands. And the closest thing, at that time, other than architecture, was industrial design, which gives me the opportunity to build things. Drawing was something deeply rooted in me; I was in love with it. I wanted to do everything manually. I never got along with technology, and I started to fall behind because everything had to do with programming. I enjoyed being able to create a model; that's where my fascination lay. That led me to art. Out of curiosity, I ended up pursuing a degree in Fine Arts.

– How did you get started in ceramics, and how did you transition from your early decorated pieces to your current clay pieces?

–I started making ceramics with my partner, Sol Carranza Sieber. We could have something in the studio that worked in a real way and, at the same time, add something extra to it, decoration. I became fanatical. I entered that world of “being a ceramist,” and everything else began to fade away. The material itself began to reveal itself. I found beauty in that simplicity.

– The idea of ​​pieces that are both utilitarian and enjoyable coincides with a time of shifting disciplines. How did you work on this?

Time also clarifies the meaning of the craft. I loved making tableware at the time, but then I grew weary. There was a boom in ceramics, and when something becomes fashionable, it scares me a bit; I didn't want to stay there. When I started with weaving, I was fascinated by scale, by making large pieces. I think that was what sparked my search.

– It became clear in the last exhibition , Corazas para algo inmense . At what point did you think about weaving ceramics?

A few years ago, I started seeing designers using extruded parts to make benches, taking ceramics from tableware, from everyday objects. And when I was on a trip visiting workshops in Latin America, I met artists who covered buildings with ceramics. I saw the scale of the material and the challenge it entailed, and I thought about doing it. I looked up workshops in Córdoba that had large kilns, and one was the Palmar brick factory.

– How did you start working with them?

“I was invited to visit the place, and that's when a new door opened in my work. Some friends and I had just created a mural for the university campus, and I was working with red pottery, which is the most awkward to work with in the studio because it cracks and has little value. The material, the earth you find in the river, began to make sense. It was simple: collect, knead, and build. I began to design large-format pieces with the clay from the factory.”

– On your trip through Latin America, did you take any particular textile as a reference?

–When I started weaving ceramic pieces, I thought someone else was already doing it, but I searched online and couldn't find anyone. It was a very personal search, and the weaving I do is very simple. You bring those things, like when I was studying design, I liked being able to embroider something on clothes. I've always loved fashion. I had the typical experience, without having to rely on that, of a grandmother who weaves. Plus, I had access to a sewing machine and a loom.

Returning to the journey and influences, visits to so many museums in Colombia, Peru, and Mexico remain in my subconscious. My strengths are weaving and red pottery. I felt comfortable when I was able to combine those two techniques, and what was generated by making the rigid more flexible and using ceramics for another purpose.

– How do you define the extension of the textile format?

–I try to expand as much as I can. Afterwards, it involves a lot of things, because moving a large ceramic piece isn't the same as moving a drawing; that always limits me. For the exhibition at the Cott Gallery, I worked on a certain scale, transportable, so that it can be displayed in a home, and that isn't so exaggerated.

– And the brick work you'll be presenting at Arteba, what are its characteristics?

–It's called "Massive ." It's linked to the process I had years ago with some brick massifs. I went with an idea, but that clay isn't the same as the one used in the workshop. It behaves differently; it has a new logic. They're extruded, crushed, deformed bricks. I'm beginning to find an aesthetic aspect to that wrinkle that's created. I'm interested in not losing the fact that it's a brick, but manipulated differently.