If you live in the Miami area or are headed to Miami for Art Basel don’t miss the Circularity of Time art exhibit at Tanya Brillembourg Art in Key Biscayne showcasing pieces from contemporary Guatemalan artists of Mayan descent Antonio Pichillá, tepeu choc and Manuel Chavajay.
As a Guatemalan the pieces in this exhibit really spoke to me. While they are contemporary pieces I could feel a familiarity, a sense of connection. Elements of Mayan culture are present in each one of the pieces, sometimes they are evident and other times they are not. Yet all of the pieces spoke to me in a subconscious level about that shared connection to the ancestral Mayan culture through textures, colors and geometry.
The Circularity of Time art Exhibit
Where: Tanya Brillembourg Art, Key Biscayne
260 Crandon Blvd #38, Key Biscayne, FL 33149
When: November 29th through March 15, 2022
Opening: November 29th 7pm-10pm
Gallery hours:
Tuesday – Friday 10:00am – 4:00pm
Satudays – Appointment Only
About the exhibition: The circularity of time
The Mayas, inventors of the number zero, have a cyclical vision of time connected to their calendars: the tzolk’in, a 260-day cycle, that coincides with the duration of a human pregnancy; and the haab, a period of 360 days and a special time of five days for the solar year.
The title of this exhibition, The Circularity of Time, pays homage to this ancient culture of astronomers and to its prodigious textiles that—unlike the great architectural monuments that ceased to be built—have continued to incessantly weave millenary traditions and knowledge. Neither wars nor the oppression of the conquest prevented the transmission of this knowledge maintained by women.
Two contemporary Maya Tz’utujil artists, Manuel Chavajay and Antonio Pichillá Quiacaín, learned from them. They use textiles, among other means, to move from the system of their ancestral culture to that of the international art scene, without uprooting themselves from it. The primary colors that in contemporary Western culture are associated with constructivism, are for them those of corn states and cardinal points.
At the same time, the exhibition displays the inquiries of tepeu choc, a Mayan artist descendant of the Q´eqchi´and Kaqchikel peoples. Departing from the line ─similar to a thread─ he builds a language in the form of an expanded textile art which transits from drawing to sculpture. Like the ancient Mayans who calculated with surprising precision the cyclical movement of planets, he uses mathematics to structure his works of art.
Paula studied architecture and now makes a living as a freelance writer,traveler and amateur photographer.She started her writing & publishing career as the editor of Bebé y Mamá, the first parenting magazine in Guatemala.She is the founder of www.GrowingUpBilingual.com and www.365thingsswfl.com and writes articles in Spanish and English for both magazines and the web on travel,food and bicultural and bilingual parenting .
When she is not on a plane or road trip she likes to create recipes inspired in the flavors of her native Guatemala.
- Guatemalan Dulce de Chilacayote Recipe (Crystalized Chilacayote Candy) - February 26, 2024
- Guatemalan Naranjas en Miel Recipe (Candied Oranges Recipe) - February 25, 2024
- Traditional Guatemalan Candy - February 25, 2024
Gracias Paula. Lindos y valiosos comentarios
Abrazos