Art Exhibition Leigh Hyams Apr 3–May 31 Museo de la Ciudad Guerrero 27, Centro Historico Querétaro Free

Finding the ancient in the present
By Theres Rohan

The undeniable loss of tradition in the world does not at all entail a loss of the past, for tradition and past are not the same. —Hannah Arendt, Between Past and Future 

The ancient presence in the present, this is the place the new work by Leigh Hyams seems to want to take us. Hyams has worked out of her studio in Mexico for nearly six years and at first, to our delight, immersed herself in the sheer beauty of abundance of color. Hence, her large canvasses of the last two or three years appear with improbable, largely surreal forms of blossoms.

Now, the focus of her lens is different. There seems to have emerged a new awareness of her power as an artist in a very immense sense, with a vision for time and place and its purpose and meaning.

As her attention turns to ancient sites, the work of man as a collective force enters. How many hands did it take to build the pyramids, these complex structures in their various locations? She does not come to these questions as an archeologist nor as an anthropologist. She comes to these questions as an artist. It is the artist who excavates. It is the artist who leads us to surmise what might have been, and to what purpose. Hyams, the artist, leaves the human fingerprint as she digs for the fragment of the past. She stands at the edge of the past, in the present. Her canvas is her record.

As a distinguished painter who knows her craft, her canvas is not stretched; it’s relic-like, a fragment itself. She works at it quickly, almost intuitively; forms appear and might be washed away again. She leaves only the essential marks, only the essential line. Many of the works here combine painting and drawing with acrylic, charcoal and hibiscus. Yes, hibiscus. What ingenuity, what brilliance, to combine images of the past with natural elements and in consequence, boldly imply renewal.

Hyams takes us further. She takes us with her to the edge of the world, a world never known to us, quietly nestled under a starry sky with “Palenque at Night.” We see black lines, black dots, all reddish purple, bluish purple. Beautiful. She thus connects us with the everlasting cosmos. In this work the artist has spoken with a voice like a poet’s, grounded in the present, of things that once were and things we have yet to see.

Curator Theres Rohan may be reached at (650) 322-0475 or theresrohan@hotmail.com . To contact the museum, call (442) 212-3855.