Kukuli Velarde's Work
I am a Peruvian artist with American citizenship. I got my BFA in ceramics at Hunter College, in New York.
My work in general is influenced by my cultural heritage. Being away from my country of origin allowed me to see who I am: I am a lower middle class urbanite who left Peru as an adult, already aware of its racial, social, cultural and economic climate. The society I came from is, in my understanding, formed through the violent encounter between two cultural streams: the European and the indigenous world. My cultural background is the sum of a continuous hybridization- a cultural context defined and redefined by the influences of pre-Columbian, Colonial, and Republican eras.
Latin culture; its finest expression: family; and myself as result, are all together the frame from which my work springs, following the path of Westernized Latin American candid popular speech, which favors a not difficult to understand "in your face" stance. Formally speaking, I have as direct references Pre-columbian pottery and Colonial Painting.
Here there are some images of my recent ceramic work : the series PLUNDER ME, BABY. Which is an installation of “pre-columbia pieces” awakening after centuries and reacting to their new context, one they don’t know at all. My new painting series CADAVERS, life size self-portraits on 4x6 ft. aluminum plates, and a drawing mural I performed in Barry Friedman Gallery this year throughout my solo exhibition titled PATRIMONIO. I say “perform” because it was a performance, the drawings are made directly onto the wall without a preconceived idea. It was accompanied by a video of my father.
To learn more about the work you can go to www.kukulivelarde.com.
1. Chola Puteadora Nazca phase III Perú, AD 500 Grabby!! Need to be put on her place… Métale mano. (Ceramics, low fire)
2. Indianaje Chacachaquero Recuay Perú, 1-300 AD You are next... and she is so happy! I know, She doesn't show it... but who cares, right? She will be happy, quiéralo la mujercita o nó. (Ceramics, low fire)
3. Idolillo Marroncillo Con Cabeza de Chola Muerta Moche IV, Perú, AD 450-550 Take it easy, don’t move, Ai Apaec is also known as the “Decapitator”... (Ceramics, low fire)
4. Love Me Diosito, Love Me (Oil painting on Aluminum)
5. Pieta Mia (Oil painting on Aluminum)
6. Najallota Insolente Maya México, 750 BC Playfully disobedient. Does not believe in hierarchies, la hija de la gran... (Ceramics, low fire)
7. Cholerio Conche su madre Recuay Perú, AD 1-300 Treacherous innocent-like sisters. Threesome potential. (Ceramics, low fire)
8. Nakaq Archangel (Oil painting on Aluminum)
9. Vigilándote (Oil painting on Aluminum)
10 - 12. Detail of The Apple of his Eye (Markers on wall installation, with video)
