Collection

Diosa (Arasy)
Goddess (Arasy)

Oil and pastel on card
height: 36cm
width: 23.5cm
Painting

Donated by Arete 1996

4-1996

During the late 1980s Arete worked on a series of images of gods. In Guaraní mythology the goddess Arasy, mother of heaven, came to earth with the great god Tupa at Areguá, above lake Ypacaraí. There they created the stars, lakes, rivers and all living things. Arete creates her goddess in many layers using a mixture of paint and wax crayon, with touches of gold applied with a brush. The central rectangle is made of a collaged piece of rough-textured hand-made cardboard. The geometric designs suggest Guaraní craftsmanship of the sort Arete encouraged in her studio-gallery in Areguá.

Valerie Fraser, 2008