Riscos calizos

"Riscos calizos" is a large hanging piece made of pre-woven wool strings assembled together to form a mobile and flat surface. Red, black, and purple strips of color transition into each other across the drapery, evoking a mountainous landscape. "Riscos" is a Spanish word meaning steep cliffs, while "calizos" refers to the corrosive but glimmering material found in limestone. Combining sculptural and painterly processes, de Amaral transforms the functional purpose of fabrics and weaves into textural explorations and corporeal presences that recall the Andean mountain range. De Amaral embraced the weaving process as an artistic practice as early as the 1960s. "Riscos calizos" reflects the artist’s interest in the craftsmanship and decorative arts of indigenous cultures and in the historical, material, and poetic aspects of industrial materials and organic fibers. The hanging threads reveal the tactile quality of the fabric and conjures the act of weaving as an intimate relationship with nature that is actively involved in the production of meaning. The continuous pattern of hanging strings recalls the Inca "quipus", a series of knots used to record time and collect data that have served as repositories of collective memory, a quality associated with de Amaral’s work.

This text was created in collaboration with the University of Maryland Department of Art History & Archaeology and written by Patricia Ortega-Miranda.