SIESTA / Randy shull

We have all been forced to pause in different ways throughout this pandemic that has taken over the world. At SIESTA, an exhibition of paintings created while I was in quarantine and working alone in Mexico, I continue my investigation of vernacular materials using Yucatan hammocks as the central material.

The hammock, an ancient woven and functional form, introduced in Mexico in the 15th century, is the nucleus of life in Yucatán, where almost all the inhabitants of the towns that surround Mérida, sleep with their families in hammocks to this day. . Hammocks are woven in these small towns by hand on foot looms by both men and women.

The colorful woven hammocks come from the local markets of Merida. The woven forms are intuitively composed on the ceiling of my studio, where they are obsessively painted and allowed to cure for days under the warm tropical…