Z’otz* Collective | Project Niches
to
Kootenay Gallery of Art, History and Science 120 Heritage Way, Castlegar, British Columbia V1N 4M5

Z’otz* Collective (Nahúm Flores, Erik Jerezano, Ilyana Martínez), "Symposium"
Courtesy of the Gallery.
Opening August 25 at 5:00 pm
Drawing is our primary means of expression and is used to respond to each other and to what surrounds us. The direct approach allows us to create quirky and humorous images that examine the immigrant experiences of displacement, transition and transformation. The work connects to the storytelling traditions of our Latin American background, with mythological beings, animals and symbols.
Z’otz* Collective (Nahúm Flores, Erik Jerezano, Ilyana Martínez) are artists of Latin American heritage living in Toronto. The Collective was formed in 2004 out of a shared interest in collaborative art making. Their work has a playful spirit, quirky subjects and hybrid characters that connect to the storytelling traditions of their culture, background, and history. They produce drawings, paintings, collages, sculptures, and site–specific installations and use a system of rotation: they each work on a different piece at the same time and then they exchange them. Intuition and chance drive the process, as they respond to each other’s forms and marks. They have subsequently integrated terracotta and stoneware sculptures into their practice with the same intuitive process. Z’otz* Collective has had over 25 solo exhibitions and over 40 group exhibitions across Canada, Mexico, USA, Serbia, and China. In 2018, the Musée des Beaux- Arts de Montréal commissioned them to create a series of ceramic sculptures for their permanent collection.
The Z’otz* Collective will also be conducting a Collaborative Drawing Workshop:
August 23 at 2 pm
Artist Talk:
August 24 at 2 pm.