Terracotta Pabellón Criollo I, 2024

Terracotta Pabellón Criollo I, 2024, Terracotta, 40 × 40 × 6 cm, 48 × 48 × 7.5 cm (framed)

This handmade terracotta relief is part of a series created in Venice for Pabellón Criollo, Sol Calero’s outdoor pavilion presented at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The pieces were produced in collaboration with Terreal San Marco, a Venetian brick company known for its work on the San Marco Cathedral. The terracotta reliefs were among several elements integrated into the pavilion’s design, reflecting Calero’s interest in architecture, materiality, and craft.

Terreal San Marco is a brick factory that still produces bricks by hand, a craft that is slowly disappearing. The company has long contributed to the restoration of historic Venetian buildings, but the production of handmade bricks is now being discontinued, making this collaboration especially timely and significant. For Pabellón Criollo, Sol Calero developed several collaborations focused on sustainability and local craftsmanship, emphasizing the reuse of materials and the recognition of regional labor. Her partnership with Terreal San Marco was part of this approach. She spent several days immersed in the factory, creating these unique pieces, likely among the last to be produced there. While bricks have appeared in her previous work, they were always commercially sourced; this marks the first time she has shaped one herself. In her practice, architectural elements are never merely decorative, they carry context and memory. The handmade brick becomes more than a building material; it embodies a relationship to place, tradition, and labor. Though visually cohesive, Pabellón Criollo holds layered meanings and these terracottas are one of them.