Daniela Corina Popa is among the five Romanian artists to be featured for the first time in AUTOR Fair, on May 13-14, Grand Hotel du Boulevard
Tell us some more about yourself and about your presence for the first time at this fair.
I think I was born a jeweler. My daily life, my beliefs, my goals, confound with this noble call, which, seen from my point of view, is not a profession but a way of life. I did it from the very beginning, even though, in my childhood and adolescence, did not exist for me as a future. My meeting with the job was unplanned and welcome, it’s an activity in which I excel and I do not see myself doing anything else, at most as a hobby. For my artistic experience, I could not miss a fully, licensed and masterful, visit to the Faculty of Arts and Design in Timisoara, my home city with a rich and long tradition in the field, where I work successfully and with recognition, alongside with my husband.
I did my artistic education alone, before my faculty, and I successfully completed it during my license and master study, a time when I found my favorite style and a new way of working. I worked fine jewelry in all the classic styles, applying with accuracy each one’s particularities, but my greater love – I hope not the last one – is the modernism, with all that it contain, especially the brutalism, which I admire most, especially in architecture. The presence at AUTOR is a “must-have” for any complex artist and it is my opportunity to evolve and complete my knowledge. I hope not to stop here.
Your collection was inspired by Salvador Dali and his obsession with the Angelus painting. Is this collection a tribute to Dali?
Although it was inspired by the characters present in Dali’s painting, the collection is not a tribute to the painter, but rather a personal view of the artist’s attitude and metaphysical atmosphere in his numerous paintings in which these entities are present.
In your collection we can find good angels, fallen angels, butterflies or bats, day or night. How yould you describe the person wearing your jewellery?
Since the fall of Man from heaven, the light side and the dark side are in close contact everywhere, in the visible and invisible world. It is equilibrium and it is present even in us. There can’t exist, one without the other, as there can’t be angels without devils. It is hard to describe the person who would wear these jewels, in fact, it is almost impossible, since we are all subjected to these spiritual oscillations. In my long career I was surprised by the reactions of some customers, which I did not expect them to like some objects, and yet they went home with them after a “coup de foudre”. Also, a type of person can hold both, classical jewelry and “dark” or avant-garde jewelry. Everything is about “mood”.
What is your favorite piece and why?
I love them all. Everyone was favorite at the time of creation. As I said, everything is about mood.
If Dali would come to our fair, what kind of jewellery do you think he would prefer?
In my opinion, Dali was a fetishist. When he had a character or a situation in mind, he did not hesitate to repeat it until that state of mind was exhausted. Who knows what feeling he might have at the time of appearance? Certainly he would not prefer fallen angels or bats. I never saw them in his work.
Do you have any expectations from your first participation in AUTOR?
Yes, I have very great expectations in the direction of completing my education and not only that. It is important for me, as an artist, to know as many people as possible, especially in the field. It’s how I evolve, and my artistic complexity needs this experience.