New Nebula

Artist Eduardo Portillo (Venezuelan, Born 1966)

Artist Mariá Eugenia Dávila (Venezuelan, Born 1966)

Date2017

Dimensions74 × 49 1/4 in. (188 × 125.1 cm)

MediumSilk,alpaca, moriche palm fiber dyed with Indigo, rumex spp., onion,eucalyptus, acid dyes, copper and metallic yarns

ClassificationTextiles and Fiber

Credit LineMrs. C. Lockhart McKelvy Fund

Object number

2018.53

Not on View

Label Text"We are interested in representing experiences in materials and processes that bear the imprint of people and places and reveal the relationships between people and their environments." Venezuelan husband-and-wife team Mariá Eugenia Dávila and Eduardo Portillo have taken an experimental approach to their artistic practice with fiber by merging global traditions of color, technique, and material into a unique body of work. The artists spent several years in China and India studying sericulture (silk farming), eventually establishing their own silk manufacture on a rural farm in Venezuela. Their exquisitely rendered textiles are a powerful symbol of the artists’ self-sufficient process that is intertwined with their respect for land, the materials that they utilize, and cultural traditions from around the world. New Nebula is an example of a woven “mosaic” from the couple’s Indigo series. It is intended as a metaphorical meditation on the passing moments of the day represented by the various colors present in the grid pattern. The harmonious blend of blues, yellows, browns, and grays invokes the warm afternoon Venezuelan sun.Published ReferencesBrowngrotta Arts, Still Crazy After All These Years...30 years in art, exhibition catalogue, Wilton, Connecticut, 2018.