Viewers can get a glimpse into the history and evolution of Peru at Currents 125: Blas Isasi, a new sculptural exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum. The two-part exhibition is a journey through time, depicting the violence of European colonization of Peru and its lasting impacts on Peruvian society today. Blas Isasi, the artist behind the exhibition, hails from Lima, Peru, and resides in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is currently visiting St. Louis as a Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow at Washington University.
The exhibition, on view now through August 9, opens by starkly juxtaposing Indigenous Andeans from ancient Peruvian society with European colonizing forces, giving life and intensity to the “violent clash” of the 16th century, as Isasi calls it. The sculptures are crafted around two weighing balances from Peruvian and European society, and the differences between the two are telling.
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“Western approach to nature and the world in general is a way to basically fragment the world and view it from a very instrumental perspective in terms of what kind of value you can extract from nature instead of a more holistic relationship,” Isasi says.
The second part of the exhibition explores the lasting impacts of colonization on Peruvian society, blending elements of European and Peruvian culture while maintaining the tension between the two. The sculpture is set in the landscape of a Peruvian coastal desert from which Isasi hails.
The chronological progression from the first gallery space to the second is complicated by elements that enmesh historical and contemporary society. This complexity is central to Isasi’s vision for the exhibition.
“The past can help us in building a new future, in imagining different worlds and different futures,” he says. “It is possible to build a society that is a multi-species society.”
Isasi sees the ancient Peruvian experience of humans integrating with animals, landscapes, and territories around them as a much-needed approach to conquer today’s environmental crisis.
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Currents 125 represented an opportunity for Isasi to explore his own identity as a Peruvian immigrant. “There’s an element of trauma, disarray, in the process of immigrating. And this, to me, is a means to address that, heal that, acknowledge that part of my personal experience,” he says.
As a part of his Washington University fellowship, Isasi also taught classes at the Sam Fox School of Art. “Teaching requires having to question yourself at every step of the way,” he says. “[The fellowship] was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which I’m very grateful for,” Isasi remarked.
Currents: 125: Blas Isasi opens February 6 with an artist talk in Farrell Auditorium. The exhibition will be on display in Peper Martin Gallery 210 and Nancy and Kenneth Kranzberg Gallery 211 through August 9.
