ART-ECUADOR: Mammoth Art Work Nears Completion

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Mario González

QUITO, May 7 1996 (IPS) - Local artist Oswaldo Guayasamin is racing against time to complete the nation’s most ambitious cultural project by the end of the century – the ‘Chapel of Humanity’ on which he has spent five years labouring with with palette and brush.

Defined by its creator as “a gift to the city (of Quito), the continent and the entire world”, The Chapel of Humanity will cost some eight million dollars by the time it is finished.

When completed, the chapel, Guayasamin’s “last great dream”, will rest on an extension of 2.500 square meters (27.000 square feet) and “will be a tribute to our Latin American people, to the mestizo man”, explained the artist.

His project has financial support from the U.N. Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), the city of Quito and the government of Ecuador.

The 77-year-old Guayasamin, widely respected as a portrait painter, is contributing all his work from the past five years as well as the site of the building. The Chapel of Humanity will house Guayasamin’s paintings in the three levels of the building and will narrate the history of the Latin American man “and the triumph of the mestizo”.

“All of my angels and all of my demons, from the indigenous and from the mestizo, will tell the story of the odyssey of contemporary man”, says Guayasamin.

The basement of this outstanding construction will be dedicated to pre-Columbian culture, where “we will see its space, its art and its thinking, which is now part of us”, said Guaysamin who goes by the name of “El Indio”.

The independence of the Americas will be the central theme on the second level of The Chapel of Humanity, and the third and last level will focus on “the contemporary man, the mestizo”, the painter says.

He brushed aside suggestions that perhaps some of the money financing his enterprise could be used to promote young artists.

“I have worked all my life for my people, through my Foundation, and I will keep on doing it. This is a legacy for all of humanity”, he declared. Guysamin says he has received support “from institutions, governments and all my brothers and sisters, to put up this project”.

The artist also has planned a series of cultural events as a source of funding, such as “All voices together”, featuring singers like Silvio Rodriguez, of Cuba, Mercedes Sosa, Victor Heredia and Fito Paez of Argentina, and Joaquin Sabina and Luis Eduardo Aute from Spain. They “will not receive any money”, according to Guayasamin.

“All voices together” will be shown three times and will take place next month in Quito. There will also be an auction of paintings of artists that have exhibited works at the Guayasamin Foundation.