In 1994 the Jacobo and María Ángeles San Martín Tilcajete Workshop, Oaxaca was born with the aim of providing a space for the creative work of wood carving of Zapotec figures.
Although the town of San Martín is currently an artisan reference, when the workshop was born, local production was focused on the field and there was a strong migratory movement towards the United States. However, the Jacobo and María Ángeles Workshop was born out of the desire to undertake and rescue the ancestral practice of giving life to tonas and nahuales through wood carving and hand decoration. Little by little the workshop has been growing and developing the style that characterizes it.
As one more of their successes, the Jacobo and María Ángeles Workshop presents since 2021 “Plaga”, an acutely reflective collection that lives between the limits of what we consider beautiful and what we passionately reject as unpleasant.
The anxiety or repelling effect commonly produced by insects considered pests is nullified by the meticulous details of Zapotec iconography, the silver details and gold leaf finishes that adorn these crunchy bugs carved from copal wood.
The narrative in the work of Jacobo and María Ángeles in this exhibition reaffirms the uncomfortable commitment to the plague, contrasting the relationship between the forms of the beautiful and the disgusting that can be inverted according to the gaze of the observer. With a visual double meaning, the masters confront our notion of what is desired, what is beautiful, what we want to possess and what we want to be a part of.
As small and insignificant as these beings may seem, they sprout from the corners like one big question that fills the room: Who really is the plague?
“This exhibition reaffirms the uncomfortable commitment to the plague, contrasting the relationship between the forms of the beautiful and the disgusting that can be inverted depending on the gaze of the observer”,
How can I visit the “Plague” collection of the Jacobo and María Ángeles Workshop?
Address: Libres 5, Col. Centro, 71506 San Martín Tilcajete, Oax.
Contact for guided tours: https://jacoboymariaangeles.com/visita-guiada/
Hours: Monday to Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Last tour 5:15 p.m.)
Reservation essential.
Cost: Free
Source: Mexico Desconocido
