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Z'otz* Collective - from "Impossible to Live Without Ideas", a suite of 39 drawings
"Impossible to Live Without Ideas" was selected from a suite of 39 drawings by Z'otz Collective, in an exhibition "Desired Intruders" held at G+ GALLERIES (28 August to 23 September, 2007). Z'otz* is the Mayan word for "bat". It is also the chosen name for a group of three talented artists of Latin-America origin - Nahúm Flores from Honduras, Erik Jerezano from Mexico and Ilyana Martínez who was born in Toronto and raised in Mexico and the U.S.
Nahúm Flores, Erik Jerezano, and Ilyana Martínez met one day and created a new entity - Z'otz*- an amalgamation of their personalities and a fusion of their artistic styles. Each of their works of art has been created by all three members, in weekly drawing sessions. These curious souls explore the freedom of the absurd through experimental collaboration.
Among their themes are ideas exploring immigrant experience, mapping, travel, translation, and urban life. These issues are addressed in a peculiar style using the language of hybrid beasts, quirky characters, and odd imaginary spaces.
Z'otz* has taught these three artists to read images, forms and colours with their souls, and to respond viscerally to them. The emergence of this new beginning - Z'otz* - has been liberating, allowing them the space to let go, and play.
The Z'otz* Collective has an extremely busy 2007, having just exhibited their work at The Art Gallery of Peterborough in May and Gallery Vertigo in Vernon, BC in July. They just return from a multidisciplinary art residency in Trisc, Serbia (in conjunction with the Loznica Cultural Center and Belgrade School of Fine Arts).
