Internationally-known Kaqchikel Mayan artist Carlos Chávez
presents Canto a la Esperanza at the Galería Panza Verde in
La Antigua, Guatemala on Wed., 11th at 5pm. This collection is an expression
of his long-time theme of persistence, which is at once melancholy and hopeful.
Melancholy in its clarification of the losses resulting from violent conflict;
but hopeful through Chávez’ sunny and fluid symbolism, particularly
in the unexpected but masterful use of flower and dove motifs. Taken together,
these complementary elements are a call to, or a celebration of, resilience.
Some of the images are clearly about death; others employ
benign eroticism; still others treat both. All have the mark of what the artist
calls onirismo, a dreamy form of perception and recall that is understood
in his culture, which he is attempting to demonstrate for those of us outside
of it.
Another unifying thread in the collection is the parallelism
between Guatemalan women and the Guatemalan earth. Both are renowned for their
fecundity, no matter the obstacles. Both face their respective forms of violence,
which Chávez laments. Each of the 30 or so paintings has at least one
female in the human portion of its subject and, at the same time, a bit of visual
praise for the fruitful earth.
In all, the warm impressionism of this show is delivered to
us free of the contrivance needed by dreamer-artists with poorer recall of what
they have imagined or seen. This painter impresses with his sense of the delicate
and sacred which is threatened by a violent breach—without requiring from
of us an angry or visceral reaction. —Dwight Wayne Coop
