MARUKA Gallery
-- Colin Abbyssinian Carto --
South American artist Colin Abbyssinian Carto was born in Guyana and began his formal art training at age 15. He recieved a Bachelors of Fine Art in textile design from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City before returning to teach at the Burrows School of Art. He has exhibited in Guyana, Barbados, and Trinidad, and currently resides and works in Brooklyn, New York.
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The ARCHITECTURE of BONES and RUGS
at the MARUKA Gallery (February -- March 2012)
Two separate paths have me led me to the works in this exhibition, both sharing an affinity with architecture.
Skeletons have captivated
me for many years. Bones are
the heart of form whether as the support for the flesh of living
organisms or as the frames for the structures that we build. I am
fascinated by the architecture beneath the surface and how that
engineering shapes us and facilitates our movement. Over the years, I
have collected many references of nskeletons and have been rendering
them in pen and ink on vellum. Recently, I started exploring ideas of
playfully combining and juxtaposing bones of various origins to suggest
narrative as in "Food Chain I" or to invent new anatomies as in
"Untitled".
.
The painted rugs also have an architectural underpinning. They
are inspired by the exquisite designs of Middle Eastern rugs, whose
geometric patterns are arranged in perfect symmetry, reminiscent of
complex floor plans. In creating my rug designs, I first set up the
"bones" by choosing the motifs to be used and mapping the underlying
structure of the layout. I then build on that structure by combining
patterns indigenous to various cultures to create a rhythm in the
design.
-- C. A. Carto
