Fidias Vázquez is a sculptor. He is 45 years old, and was born in Ibarra, Ecuador, but has been living in Cluj-Napoca for nearly 9 years now, after being given the opportunity to work in a fortress remodelation in Alba Iulia. He sculpts after his father, who he came into Romania with for the first time. He is now getting a PhD on Visual Arts (Sculpting) and working independently in Cluj-Napoca.
Fidias rents a little site in a repurposed industrial building, like (and along) many other artists in Cluj-Napoca who want to have their own professional workshop but cannot yet afford all the permits and fees to actually own one completely.
One of Fidias’ friends works repairing windows and crafting glass in general.
In his workshop, Fidias shares his space with around six more craftsmen, artisans and artists. Some of them work in wood, some other repair furniture, etc. Fidias says it is great to work like this, because they can relay and support each other when one needs help or requires other professional’s knowledge. «It is a collaborative space», he says, «You are never alone in what you do».
Fidias is currently studying to get a PhD on Arts, but he is on break now. However, sometimes he still wakes up early in the morning and visits his friends in the workshop. As his own personal ritual, he also makes sure to bring warm coffee for his friends on every visit, when he knows they have been working since very early.
Fidias enjoys the company of all the people working with him, since they have shared the room together for a long time now.
Fidias works on stone, metal, but mainly wood. His father was a sculptor, so he learnt from him back in Ecuador, where he studied to become a sculptor. He prefers wood because it’s the cleanest for him and because he enjoys the textures. He also came to Romania with several types of Ecuadorian wood, such as cedar and madera cereza.
Fidias works as a freelancer, which means he gets requests from people (sometimes friends) to make different kinds of sculptures. For a perfect result, he often asks for a lot of references: your personality, your style, the room the sculpture will be in, the influence you may want it to have. Above, Fidias hung a reference picture for a Sumerian influenced sculpture he will soon work on.
Example: This sculpture is meant to be a surprise gift from a man to his fiancée. The sculpture represents the two of them joining a heart-shaped hug, over an Egyptian cross, a symbol she likes very much. The sculpture stands over a base that simulates snowy mountains: the place where they met for the first time. A very beautiful and symbolic work of art.
To work on his wood sculptures (wood being his favorite material too), Fidias uses his formones (chisels) to carve and give form to the sculpture in all the stages of the process.
Working on wood always leaves the place covered with a lot of dust and leaves him with a lot of wood shavings everywhere. This is why keeping a good cleaning routine helps him work more efficiently. Fidias makes sure that his workspace is always clean before and after every session.
Today, Fidias will keep on working on a sculpture of a Pegasus he has been working on for weeks. The sculpture is separated in pieces because of its complexity: a wing is already done, but Fidias is still missing one.
Fidias draws and cuts the base shape of a wing on raw wood, following the lines of the previous one; and then proceeds to give it a more detailed form.
Fidias starts sculpting the other wing with the first step of the sculpting process: the desvaste, in which he needs to give the main form of a wing to the wood. For this, he uses a formón and a mazo (mallet).
Fidias keeps the previously finished wing next to him, so he can look at it from time to time and make sure that the new one is as identical in shape, length and thickness as possible.
The desvaste takes a lot of time because of the effort one has to apply on the wood. In order not to risk the wood to break, the initial piece of wood needs to be thick and resistant to allow the sculptor to comfortably carve as much wood out as he wants to try: this makes the process of carving extremely tiring.
Fidias points out the importance of the type of wood, his density, and humidity: «When the wood is too old and dry, we have to be careful not to be too harsh on it because we can break it. We also need to follow the wood marks when we carve; otherwise we risk splintering the surface. If the wood is too humid, it becomes too hard to carve sometimes».
Some sculptures take a really long time to be finished, sometimes months of everyday work. Like this Pegasus, some sculptures have to be finished piece by piece separately, due to the complexity of their structure’s construction.
When the process of the desvate is finished, Fidias is left with the main shape of the wing, which nicely resembles his twin piece. Once Fidias is satisfied with the shape, curvature and resemblance, he will move on to the next step.
But before, Fidias makes sure that all his formones are nicely sharpened in his esmeril (emery). The next step, the pulida, needs them to be so, because it will take even longer than the desvaste.
The pulida is about carving the details that will make this shape into a wing. Now Fidias needs to be careful that the details also match the previous wing’s, to make them identical. He cannot use the mazo this time, because the force would make it impossible for him to work in small, delicate strokes. He forces the formón with his own hand into the wood, against his own torso. This can also be very tiring.
The pulida can take longer than the desvaste itself. Because of this, Fidias needs to stop more often to sharpen his formones again.
Fidias continues on carving the feathers of this wing. The sun keeps moving and it’s been hours since Fidias started working, but he barely looks away from his work while he is at it. Wood cannot be un-carved or re-done, so every little move needs to be precise when he works on details.
Fidias takes a moment to compare the two wings again and contrast them with the soon-to-be pegasus to visualize the final outcome. His hands are clearly tired after this hard day of work. He is satisfied with the progress, so he decides it is time to take a break.
What started as a bright early morning is now turning into a setting sun behind the buildings. Fidias has been working the entire day on one wing, showing, indeed, that sculpting is hard work, is effort, consistency and perseverance. Only working every day, bit by bit, is how raw wood can become a real piece of art. Now it is time to clean the formones, and vacuum again the entire workplace. Tomorrow will be another day of hard work.
Text and pictures by Camila Rayen Huecho Pozo
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