Chaak 2/20

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

Chaak, (or Chaac), was an important god of the Mayan pantheon. Known as the God of thunder, rain and the cardinal points. He is associated above all with water and therefore a deity with a great influence on the daily life of the Mayans, a society mostly dedicated to agriculture. Even nowadays, they pay tribute to this god, so that the crops would never lack water.

Chaac was characterized by four colors which symbolized the 4 cardinal points and theirs representations:

Ek Xib: color black, the black raven.

Sac Xib  color white, the white dove.

Kan Xib: color yellow, the yellow eagle.

Chac Xib: color red, the red pheasant.

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.