Exhibit Invitation

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The art of
"S M O K I N G M I R R O R"
ART & STORY BY EDUARDO VILLACIS
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Ecuadorian artist Eduardo Villacis posits an alternative history following the landing of Columbus on the shores of the Americas. Instead of a European conquest of Aztec culture, Villacis envisions Columbus taken prisoner, his navigational tools examined and used to embark on an adventure to subdue and colonize a new world which will be renamed "Amexica." This installation is a mock historical museum, complete with artworks, artifacts, and historical fragments of a vanquished people who once called their land "U-rop." With this ambitious project, Villacis reflects on racism and the manipulation of religious beliefs as ideologies of conquest and as tools of deceit.

A full color, 36 page (English/Spanish)
booklet with the complete story is now available for $20.
Look inside

WHEN THE AZTECS CONQUERED EUROPE - AN EXHIBIT ON THE ART OF "THE SMOKING MIRROR" BY EDUARDO VILLACIS

New History. Non-History. Anti-History. This is the creative playground of the award-winning artist, Eduardo Villacís from Ecuador. In his first exhibit in the United States, Villacís creates an upside-down world: "The Smoking Mirror."

The date is 2003. Five centuries ago, in 1492, the Aztecs conquered Europe. Present-day Aztec archaeologists studying the ruins of the Sistine Chapel believe Michelangelo's frescoes once depicted homosexual rites.

English is now a dead language thought to once be spoken by Barbarians in the North of England. Christianity is now a fringe pagan sect closely monitored by the authorities.

"The Art of the Smoking Mirror" is a provocative and witty exhibit of masterful drawings, lavish paintings, re-appropriated artifacts, and humorous diatribes recounting the Aztecs' conquest of Europe. Villacís' work presents a powerful and harmonious clash of styles where Renaissance classicism meets Aztec art. Through humor, Villacís addresses social and cultural ills in Latin America and issues of racial and religious intolerance. His keen sense of irony brings to mind the tales of the great South American writer, Jorge Luis Borges.

For this show, Villacís reflects on the element of chance in the construction of history. Through this perspective, he explores the relativity of what society holds as "essential truths" and "unremovable paradigms" by confronting them with "other" histories.