IN FOCUS
Karian Amaya is a talented artist originally from Chihuahua, Mexico who currently resides in Guadalajara, Jalisco. She was trained at the University of Guadalajara and The Art Students League of New York, with a degree in Graphic Design from the School of Graphic Communication in Chihuahua, and another in Visual Arts from the University of Guadalajara. This rich combination of influences and knowledge is reflected in the depth and versatility of her artistic work.
Copper and marble are the main materials with which Karian works. The proximity that she has with marble demonstrates her encounter with the marble quarries of the Ojinaga region. By utilizing copper in her work, she shows her relationship with the profession of her father, a miner in the copper deposits of Samalayuca, Chihuahua.
(Español)
La escultura es el medio artístico a través del cual Karian presenta su obra, enfocándose en la idea del encuentro y examinando los diálogos y resistencias que surgen entre la materia, el paisaje y sus contextos sociales y territoriales. El land art y el posminimalismo constituyen sus principales influencias mediante la interacción formal y narrativa de materiales brutos, naturales e industriales. Con una práctica artística que combina el dibujo, la fotografía y la escultura, Amaya explora las nociones de subjetividad y la condición sensible de la materia.
Lento atardecer es una serie de esculturas para la cual recolecta material encontrado en diferentes bancos y yacimientos de mármol del país. Las formas están inspiradas en fenómenos naturales como los amaneceres y atardeceres que se ocultan tras las montañas. El título de la serie surge de una reflexión del escritor Jorge Luis Borges, quien describía la vida como un «lento atardecer» a medida que iba perdiendo la vista.
Amaya presents different works such as “Campos poéticos” (Poetic fields), sculptural pieces that address fragility, turning points, movement and resistance.
Karian’s series reveals that she sensitizes the material, reducing it to its purest essence, showing us how silhouettes are built in the wind and the tide, all this through copper as a metaphor for the passing of time.
The pieces that Karian makes are presented as a set of the aesthetic and formal explorations that demonstrate a tension between the destruction of the natural landscape and the creation of artistic elements that causes a dialogue towards the economic, symbolic, and cultural.
