Armodio Tamayo trained as a painter at the Academia de Bellas Artes in La Paz, Bolivia, and studied with leading Indigenist painter Cecilio Guzmán de Rojas. The canvas painting Imilla (1946) – meaning “girl” in Aymara, the language spoken by communities in Bolivia and Southern Peru – is a fine example of Armodio Tamayo’s paintings of Indigenous and mestizo subjects. The mountain-like, triangular composition is formed by the young woman’s striped mantle, which the painter created with loose brushwork. The mantle does not bear the deep red cochineal colour of other Aymara textiles but consists primarily of earthen tones like the minimally defined background. The chromatic focus lies instead on the red ties of the green and white-trimmed bodice of her dress – a colourful contrast between traditional weaving and more modern fashion. Visual attention ultimately comes to rest on the luminous face of the imilla – reddened by sun and polished by perspiration and focus – whose bright eyes refuse to meet our gaze as she narrows them intently on her own subject of interest beyond the frame.
This is the first time the work of Armodio Tamayo is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Lisa Trever
