Beatriz Cortez x rafa esparza: Earth and Cosmos, a Journey Through the Ancient Cultures
Beatriz Cortez x rafa esparza: Earth and Cosmos, a Journey Through the Ancient Cultures
The Americas Society's exhibition "highlights the dialogues and exchanges between artists and their peers," says the art website.
Art at Americas Society will present Beatriz Cortez x rafa esparza: Earth and Cosmos on January 29, 2025, an exhibition showcasing the collaboration of two artists exploring ancient cultures of the Americas; this approach highlights the dialogues and exchanges between artists and their peers, which deeply shape and enrich their creative processes.
Their “reciprocal and not unilateral” collaboration, in Esparza's words, led to numerous co-created projects such as Nomad 13, Xolotl's Time Travels, Solar Star, Puente, and Portal Sur, after Copán. Aimé Iglesias Lukin Director and Chief Curator of Art at Americas Society, stated, “in order to allow the artists to fully tell their own story”, the curatorial team acted as coordinators, mediators and facilitators of these artists’ dialogues while minimizing their intellectual input.
“Beatriz Cortez × rafa esparza: Earth and Cosmos is not only an opportunity for the artists to reflect on their individual and collaborative work but is also a way to expand what curating means”, said Iglesias Lukin.“In turn, it will draw viewers’ attention to the fluid boundaries of authorship and the collective spirit inherent in artmaking by exposing the networks of personal relations that inform artistic creation and animate culture”.
In Hyperspace -100km + ∞ , esparza pays tribute to the Olmec civilization, one of Mesoamerica's earliest cultures, through a distorted Olmec head sculpture. The piece, crafted from the artist's family adobe recipe mixed with basalt—the volcanic stone used for original Olmec heads—symbolizes the journey of molten magma from the Earth's crust to its eruption and transformation into stone. This journey reflects the infinite forms and histories basalt can embody...
