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Exhibition – Beauty in the Ancient Americas: Pre-Columbian Aesthetics

Beauty in the Ancient Americas: Pre-Columbian Aesthetics

Highlighting a distinctly “Pre-Columbian” aesthetic, this exhibit will bring together and display objects and artifacts from such disparate regions as Northwestern Mexico to the plains of Peru. Pieces from a diverse background of cultures, regions, and periods will showcase the profound beauty and creativity expressed by artists in the American continents before the arrival of European tastes and influences. This show aims to present an alternative to the traditional eastern vs. western aesthetic. A design sensibility that is at once primal and raw, yet exotic and refined… the Pre-Columbian cosmological and aesthetic program is one of dynamic vision and mysterious power.

Catalogued, presented, and displayed by four major media groups Pre-Columbian artisans utilized most: Jade, gold, terra-cotta, and stone… this exhibition aims to compare and contrast different regions, periods, and cultures through the lens of technique, form, and function. Though Pre-Columbian artists were often separated by both thousands of miles and thousands of years, there is a concrete and distinct aesthetic tradition much like that found in the great civilizations of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Despite the fact that each civilization or culture contributed it’s own unique style, pulse, and vision to the overall tradition there is undoubtedly a common foundation and fundamental unity to be found through the whole of Pre-Columbian artistic expression. Individual forms, styles, and characteristics are astonishing in their diversity yet extraordinary in their underlying interconnectivity.

It is a tradition steeped in a boundless dedication to the sacred; to omnipotent Gods and goddesses, ruling lords and kings, great beings of power and providence. As a whole it sought to connect the divine cosmos with the natural world and the ruling authority in a manner that expressed and reassured universal balance and harmony. A dynamic compression of the collective ideal, this art form, through it’s myriad authors and expressions, portrays a coherent and cohesive aesthetic and symbolic interpretation of the universe; a sense of beauty and order to be shared not only among the contemporary community then but discovered, digested, and enjoyed by a modern audience now.

Opening Reception
Saturday September 30th, 6pm-9pm
Ongoing through January 2018

Barakat Gallery LCDQ
941 N La Cienega Blvd
West Hollywood CA 90069

The first 100 patrons in attendance will receive a complimentary catalogue of the exhibit. To RSVP please click HERE

6 thoughts on “Exhibition – Beauty in the Ancient Americas: Pre-Columbian Aesthetics”

  1. Dear Sir/Madame,
    Would you kindly advise how long the Beauty in the Ancient Americas: Pre Columbian Aesthetics exhibition is on for. I am travelling to Los Angeles from Australia later in the year and would love to see it. Could you also advise if the exhibition catalogue is for sale.
    Many thanks.

  2. Thank you for sending me an invitation.After reading the invitation poster, I really liked to visit the exhibition.Given that I am an expert on the museum and interested in ancient objects But Unfortunately, living conditions in Iran do not allow travel to the United States.Thanks again and I wish you good luck.

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