Balam 10/20

The linoleum engraving technique, or linocutting, is highly esteemed and in modern times, used by visual artists all over the world, including. It is a variant of engraving where a linoleum sheet is used as the matrix. The design is manually engraved in a negative using a sharp knife, gouge or chisel.

Amate is considered a sacred paper, used in Mexico since over a thousand years. It is obtained by a manual process with the fibers of the amate tree.

Size: 40x60cm

BALAM

In the Mayan culture, particularly the Yucatecan, the Balams are spirits in the shape of a jaguar, who are in charge of protecting the villages and fields from people, animals or bad spirits who may do harm. To carry out their functions, according to popular tradition, there are four of them for each site, one for each cardinal point. The traditional peasants greatly value the work carried out by the Balams and display their gratitude by leaving them jícaras de zacá, (a refreshing corn drink) and pay tributes to them before planting and harvesting .

Another belief regarding the Balames is that whistling they help children who have been lost, so that those who seek them can find them. When a Balam is in trouble, he whistles to call the others who will come to his aid.

Author: Felipe Espinoza.

Lottas, a.k.a. Felipe Espinosa, was born in MexicoCity. He studied under many artists and printmakers in Mexico, including Agustín González, Alejandro Morfín and also master teachers like  Luis Nishizawa, and Quintín Valdez at the Nishizawa Museum. He has participated in group exhibitions in Mexico, London and Chicago. Lottas has also had multiple solo exhibitions at the Cozumel Museum, Mexico, and Lisbon. He won multiple awards for his printmaking and participates on a regular basis in the Bastille Contemporary Art Fair in Paris, Lille and other Art Fairs in Germany.

What distinguishes Felipe Espinoza from other print makers is the use of amate paper (sacred paper, hand made with the fibres from the tree with the same name), as well as the use of gold, silver and copper leaves in his work. In this regard, he earned a diploma in the restoration of art and gold leafing, from the Florence School “Oro e Colore” in Italy.

Lottas is mostly known as a printmaker and works in the techniques of linocut, woodcut, relief printing, and dry point. He also creates paintings in acrylic, oil, and encaustic wax.

Today he works with various galleries in the Riviera Maya, Berlin, Lisbon, Marbella and Prague. He lives between Mexico and Europe, taking inspiration in his Mexican roots and his travels.