New Work by Jun Maeda
October 18 – November 12, 2010 at noon-5pm
DID WE KNOW THE EARTH WAS ROUND 65 MILLION YEARS AGO?
MYSTERIOUS ENGRAVED STONES OF ICA THROUGH THE EYES AND HANDS OF JUN MAEDA, LA MAMA ARTIST AND RESIDENT DESIGNER
Jun Maeda’s Exhibit at The La Mama Archive will introduce us to his new work based on the images from the engraved stones of Ica, Peru. This exhibit will open on October 18th through October 31st. The exhibit hours will be from 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm.
While browsing in a second-hand book store in 2005, artist, Jun Maeda came across a curious Japanese book “The Hidden Mysteries of The Ica Stone Designs”. The book originally written by German journalists Cornelia Petratu and Bernard Roidinger, was translated into Japanese by Yoko Akane. The images in this out-of-print book ignited his artistic instincts and his desire to pursue the mystery of the glyphs.
In 2007, Jun Maeda traveled to Ica, sketch book in hand. He visited Museo Cabrera (Cabrera Museum), met with Dr. Cabrera’s family, and was granted permission to copy the images directly from the stones. Jun Maeda entered into the extinct mythology that Dr. Javier Cabrera had defended so admirably: a mythology which flew in the face of modern archeology.
The book examines the life of Peruvian Dr. Javier Cabrera Darquea, the direct descendant of the noble Spanish Captain who founded the beautiful desert city of Ica, Peru in 1563. Ica is situated in the Nazca Desert about 5 hours from Lima. For more than 40 years, Dr. Cabrera collected 11,000 prehistoric stones from the parched Peruvian desert for his private museum. Decoding the message of the engraved stones became his life’s work.
The glyphs depict medical procedures including; organ transplants anesthesia and brain surgeries among others. Astronomy and the geography of the hemispheres of the ancient earth are shown including the arrangement of ancient (lost) continents. Journeys through space were detailed along with descriptions of Nazca lines as a spaceport. Other images included extinct fish and animals, some unknown; people observing a comet through a telescope, large continents shaped much like leaves signifying the earth being round. The stones also suggest a daily life that tells of ancient man living concurrent with the dinosaurs.
The current exhibition is deliberately installed in the theatrical setting of The La Mama Archive bringing together the multiple facets of Jun Maeda’s artistic experience. Drawn from Ica stone engravings, the artist has transposed his sketches and reinterpreted these ancient images using the very perishable and unlikely modern refuse material of Styrofoam. Bas-relief carvings in Styrofoam set on wooden boxes, under-lit and positioned in darken corners of the Archive generate an aura of mystery, discovery and theatricality. Calling in to play all of Jun Maeda’s artistic resources and imagination, the visitor is led to personally discover the art work throughout the exhibit.
Jun Maeda is one of New York’s foremost designer and experimental theater artists. He became
La Mama’s Resident Set Designer in 1972. He was awarded an Obie for Outstanding Work in Theater in 1981. Mr. Maeda has worked with; La Mama’s Great Jones Repertory Company, Ellen Stewart, Joseph Chaikin, Andrei Serban, John Jesurun, Linda Mussmann, Francoise Kourilsky, Min Tanaka, Tokyo Kid Brothers and Otrabanda Company among many others.
Conceived by Jun Maeda