3b Ahau

weblink:
http://www.lost-civilizations.net/mayan-art.html

As stated previously, contemporary art draws from historical experiences. Many histroical experiences are directly relative to that of those ancestors who are native to the places in Latin America. These ancestors were less subjected to European influence because they had not arrived yet. Studying artwork of the indigenous people helps us to understand their culture and the culture of the people that followed from them until contemporary artwork of today.

Observation: I see multiple people sitting on tables, while others sitting on the ground as if they are having a converstation with decorated rooms and large hats on top of their heads. Each person sitting on the table appears to be talking to one person on the ground. The work is made of paint and is frequently found as decoration on vases. The colors are brownish tan and black, with black as the background which really brings out the contrast between the people sitting with hats who appear to be the subjects of the painting, the background and their guests.

Interpretation: The artwork is about conversation between two sets of people, each as if the person sitting on the table is giving advice to the guest or visitor whom is sitting and listening.

Judgement: I choose this work of art because I was interested in what was going on in the painting: why the men were sitting on the table, why the wore such large hats, why the person being spoken to was sitting on the ground. I feel this work has more going on in it than I can understand. I feel like a lot of the symbols would be better explained by the Mayans rather than by another person that interpretted their artwork. The hats are very intricate and wonder what everything on the hats means and if they even have meaning. The artwork and patterns on the clothing and body of the individual seem as if they could have meanig as well.

Questioning: I would like to know what the patterns represent, if anything. I would like to know why the painting in the room are artwork in their rooms to them. I would like to know the kind of things these people are or would be talking about. I would like to know whether the artist is male or female. I would like to know how popular the artwork was to their culture.

The painting depicts the Ahau and the royal audience. Hats were of crucial importance to Maya social identity, sometimes with large flower in front and quetzal feathers behind; sometimes a hummingbird or fish is attached to the front of that large flower.