Guillermo Muñoz Vera "Terra Australis Incognita"
Forum Gallery
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With extraordinary imagination, insightful subtlety, and remarkable precision, "The Undiscovered World" features 20 new paintings that depict the lives and exploits of early European explorers at the advent of world discovery. "The Undiscovered World" represents a monumental achievement for the Chilean-born Muñoz Vera. Taking the viewer back to a time when many of the world’s oceans had yet to be crossed, the artist presents the world of explorers who set out to find new lands. The viewer enters a poetic world of tall ships, maps with uncharted territory, and early navigational tools that shows humanity at its most inquisitive, brave and persevering.
The exhibition title is based on the term "Terra Australis Incognita" which was employed in ancient Greece to designate unknown territories south of the ancient world. The strength of the human spirit of discovery is celebrated as the depth, passion and achievement of the Old Masters is recalled. Muñoz Vera writes that "The Undiscovered World" “proposes a journey through images that pose an invitation to reinterpret past events, to reread our common history − that chart drafted by the first European sailors on their way to the Mar del Zur which marked the beginning of globalization long before Columbus’s first trip.”
"In Passing Through Cape Horn," (2010) and "The Tempest," (2010) Muñoz Vera depicts ships at the time of Christopher Columbus in heavy seas and underscores just how overwhelming such journeys could be. Several works, including "Colonial Still Life in Araucania," (2010) evoke the explorers’ discovery of mineral deposits and new biological species. From alchemy and astronomy to cartography and naval science, early explorers were immeasurably talented combining the skills of scientists and sailors, as well as artists and writers.
[Image: Guillermo Muñoz Vera "The Cartographer" (2010) oil on canvas on panel 39 3/8 x 59 in.]
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Schedule
from April 14, 2011 to May 28, 2011