Eduardo Terrazas: Cosmos within a cosmos

Timothy Taylor is pleased to announce Cosmos within a cosmos, an exhibition of new work by Eduardo Terrazas. This is the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, and his first solo exhibition in New York since 1974.

Eduardo Terrazas is considered a founding member of the contemporary Mexican art scene, having worked across the disciplines of architecture, urban planning, design and museology. An ongoing  interest throughout Terrazas’ career has been the generation of integrated environments; whether that be the expanded floor paintings and city-wide color scheme of the 1968 Olympics, or the infinity environment of the mirror and digital installation piece, Exponential Growth, from his solo exhibition at the Museo de Carillo Gil, Mexico City, in 2015. 

This latest exhibition for Timothy Taylor, New York is no exception. The geometry from the works has been expanded into modules across the gallery walls and ceiling, executed in various tones of gray. Colorful bespoke benching extends an interactive element of the structural scheme, and completes the holistic participation of the gallery space. 

The 16 new works in the exhibition are generated from the Cosmos series; one component within the overarching enquiry Possibilities of a Structure, begun by Terrazas in the 1970s. This ongoing body of work employs a system of geometric permutations as a means of communicating broader, intangible themes. The mathematical processes applied to forms mimic the design process of nature, where patterns unfold with incessant variations.

Fitted within the square format of the Cosmos works, an outer circle represents the celestial sphere, and intersecting diagonals equate to the forces of the universe; such as gravity, atomic energy and electromagnetism. In the centre, a nuclear circle is the earth and in the gap between this and the rings of the armillary is a space occupied by further substructures - the forces of life on earth.

Terrazas’ signature language of measured geometric abstraction is balanced through the inherent warmth of the traditional Huichol* handcraft technique he employs. The works are executed in coloured yarn laid across a wooden panel, prepared with Campeche wax, which acts as the holding agent. The yarn is twisted and pressed into place as it changes direction to complete each area of color, giving the resulting work a series of architectural bevels, and a three-dimensional surface. For Terrazas, the physical connection with the material, and the mediative practice of application, offers an essential ontological progress which is particularly relevant in the 21st century.