Dear art lovers,
At Readytex Art Gallery, visual artist Kit-Ling Tjon Pian Gi launches the third series of artworks within her ‘The Myth of El Dorado’ art project, this time featuring the crocodile. The project consists of the production of a total of five series of nine paintings of 30 x 30 cm and a number of corresponding blog posts published on her website https://kitlingtjonpiangi.net/blog/. In each series, the artist highlights a specific animal species and after the hummingbird and jaguar, it is now the turn of the crocodilians.
As an extension of her studies into the cultural diversity, biodiversity and power of the Alakondre concept in Suriname, Kit-Ling recently decided to expand her research to the inner strength and wealth of the wider region that Suriname is a part of. Building on the age-old stories about El Dorado and the accompanying gold rush, she gives a different, personal twist to the myth: “My intuition told me that the gold of El Dorado was not only the precious metal that is called gold. I had to explore the culture of the Indigenous people of South and Central America in search of their wisdom concerning the connection between animal and human.” While researching the cultural heritage in especially the visual language of the Indigenous people, Kit-Ling thus identified 5 particularly interesting and specific animal species. The third animal species she focuses on in her research into El Dorado’s ‘other gold’ includes the crocodile, alligator and caiman.
Kit-Ling discovered, among other things, that crocodilians are very important to the indigenous people of Mesoamerica and South America, and were also an integral part of the pre-Columbian civilization. In her blog she further elaborates on this, gives interesting background information about the different types of crocodilians, and shares some fun personal stories about for example, the Surinamese caiman and crocodiles in Costa Rica.
This new series that she shares with the public in Readytex Art Gallery from October 26 until November 23, consists of nine different portraits of the impressive crocodile. These works can be seen and purchased during the gallery’s regular opening hours from Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm and Saturday from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm.
We look forward to your visit!
Be sure to check out the blog posts on the website of Kit-Ling Tjon Pian Gi:
https://kitlingtjonpiangi.net/the-myth-of-el-dorado
https://kitlingtjonpiangi.net/the-myth-of-el-dorado-in-search-of-another-gold
https://kitlingtjonpiangi.net/the-myth-of-eldorado-the-crocodile
Team Readytex Art Gallery