Portuguese artist shows fight in creating big installations

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — As a former nightclub bouncer and black-belt karate instructor, Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos doesn’t shrink from the challenges thrown up by her latest lavish creation.

The 51-year-old, renowned for her big, in-your-face installations, is now creating a ceramic wedding cake that’s 12 meters (40 feet) high and 15 meters (50 feet) wide for exhibition in England.

“The Wedding Cake” is mostly made of Portugal’s famous ceramic tiles called “azulejos.” Vasconcelos is using them in pastel pink, green, blue and yellow in what is her most ambitious outdoor project yet.

And she savors the battle. “Every day you know that something will happen and something new will come up and you have to solve problems,” she said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “It’s a very dynamic and alive thing.”