Untitled (Skin)
Llama leather
39cm x 39cm
2012
 

About

Perhaps the most over utilized art subject in the Andean region of Latin America is the llama. Yet representations of this animal speak to local economies, environment, and conditions. These sculptures made from llama leather insert the subject into histories of abstraction and postminimalism both conceptually and formally. As such they explore the relationship between hyper local art making practices and exclusionary contemporary art histories imported from art centers. This intersection often creates tensions which are evident in the work of artists caught in the center-periphery push and pull often discussed in Latin American art history.