BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Neerby//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:neerby-event-14530@neerby.io
DTSTAMP:20260405T203537Z
DTSTART:20260405T100000
DTEND:20260405T170000
SUMMARY:Currents 125: Blas Isasi
DESCRIPTION:Peruvian sculptor Blas Isasi creates sculptures in a wide range of materials and colors informed by ancient Andean cosmology and the landscape of the Peruvian desert. This free exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum focuses on the violent meeting between two radically different world views – those of the Indigenous Andeans and those of the colonizing Europeans – in early 16th-century Peru. \nCurrents 125 offers a meditated interrogation of Peru’s complex and layered history. Isasi does not romanticize Andean culture but rather suggests that it might offer alternative models for a troubled present. \nThe exhibition’s central installation consists of two large\, angular steel sculptures animated by rocklike shapes coated with sand\; carved bones with hair extensions\; and small\, highly detailed and colorful forms. The installation embodies the cultural hybridity resulting from the encounter between Andean and European cultures. The presence of hair and bone\, with their sacred meanings in Andean culture\, suggests that objects can be vessels for spirits. \nThe second space features a Chincha Inka balance from the Saint Louis Art Museum’s collection\, which was used to weigh objects in a pre-Hispanic barter economy. It is surrounded by sandstone sculptures with aluminum foil pieces\, which resemble Andean metal artifacts and\, again\, suggest a spiritual presence. Across the gallery is another scale with mutilated aluminum fingers on one side\, embodying colonial violence\, and a balancing weight of one kilogram on the other\, referencing the metric system as an archetypal symbol of science in Western Enlightenment.
LOCATION:Saint Louis Art Museum\, 1 Fine Arts Dr\, St. Louis\, MO\, 63110\, United States\, 1 Fine Arts Drive\, St. Louis\, MO\, 63110
URL:https://neerby.io/event/14530
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR