Can a deity’s identity change over time? Struck by Octavio Paz’s observation that interpretations of a sculpture of Coatlicue in Mexico City’s Museo Nacional de Antropologia have gone from “goddess to demon, demon to monster and from monster to masterpiece” in the centuries since Spanish conquest, Eamon Ore-Giron imagines contemporary identities for familiar divinities in new paintings, ceramics and textiles at James Cohan Gallery. Here, in ‘Talking Shit with Mama Killa,’ Ore-Giron pictures the Incan moon goddess with her geometric fan-shaped crown creating angular and organic shapes that cover her upper head while the lower half of her face is transformed by triangular patterns and tear-like blue drops. Characterized by angular features that appear to be morphing, this divinity’s identity is capable of shifting and updating by the moment. (On view in Tribeca through Oct 21st).
Eamon Ore-Giron, Talking Shit with Mama Killa, mineral paint and flasche on canvas, 72 x 72 inches, 2023.
Merrily Kerr is an art critic and writer based in New York. For more than 20 years, Merrily has published in international art magazines including Time Out New York, Art on Paper, Flash Art, Art Asia Pacific, Art Review, and Tema Celeste in addition to writing catalogue essays and guest lecturing. Merrily teaches art appreciation at Marymount Manhattan College and has taught for Cooper Union Continuing Education.
For more than a decade Merrily has crafted personalized tours of cultural discovery in New York's galleries and museums for individuals and groups, including corporate tours, collectors, artists, advertising agencies, and student groups from Texas Woman's University, Parsons School of Design, Chicago's Moody Institute, Cooper Union Continuing Education, Hunter College Continuing Education and other institutions. Merrily's tours have been featured in The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Sydney Morning Herald and Philadelphia Magazine.
Merrily is licensed by New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs as a tour guide and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA USA)
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