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This extraordinarily diverse
exhibition explores the dynamic relationship between contemporary
and indigenous art in Latin America.
It shows how modern artists have crossed the centuries
to become accomplices with their pre-columbian forefathers.
Works in Latin American Art are taken from The University of Essex
Collection of Latin American Art (UECLAA) - the greatest collection
of contemporary Latin American art in Europe.
These will be put into context alongside pre-columbian works from
the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection.
Paloma Crousillat, Chair in Taquile, Peru 2002
Oil & screenprint on canvas. Photo James Bedford. |
In 1921, David Alfaro Siqueiros, a revolutionary,
soldier, writer and one of the major Mexican painters of the twentieth
century, famously declared that modern artists in America should
embrace the constructive vitality of pre-Columbian art.
He also warned them to avoid at all costs literal, nostalgic or
picturesque reconstructions of the past.
The exhibition explores these concerns. Nard铆n
Ospina confronts these ideas head-on by recreating ancient stone
idols in the form of modern icons such as Mickey Mouse or Homer
Simpson.
Rufino Tamayo, by contrast, creates a vivid portrait
gallery of types and characters from the ancient past.
Although we think of 'abstract art' as a modern term, the formal,
abstract, geometric and constructive qualities of the carving, textiles
and architecture of pre-columbian civilisations have been source
and inspiration for many artists.
The show also shows how contemporary Latin American
artists have drawn on the imagery and ideas of pre-columbian and
popular art.
Today, pottery, tiles, cloth, tin, wood and found objects, materials
commonly associated with craft practices, are as much the province
of the avant-garde as of the local artist.
At this exhibition, you will be able to see for yourself how indigenous
textile traditions re-echo in contemporary work.
You will find works which juxtapose rich fabrics with popular dolls
in strikingly geometric compositions.
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