Z'otz* Collective: The Substitutes and the Absence

Additional Information

Artist Talk: Friday, September 6 at 6:00 pm, RPL Film Theatre
Opening Reception: Friday, September 6 at 7:00 pm, Central Gallery

For almost a decade, the members of Z'otz* Collective have met on a weekly basis for collaborative drawing sessions. Reminiscent of the Surrealist game of the Exquisite Corpse, they pass drawings and small terracotta sculptures around their studio table, each modifying the work-in-progress until is unanimously declared to be complete. Through this process, a complex and polyvocal mythos has emerged, comprised of images drawn from folklore and the collective imaginary, featuring mutant and anthropomorphic beasts in various states of transformation and flux. Darkly humorous and unpredictable, the multi-headed, multi-limbed beings imagined by Z'otz* Collective resonate with an energy that typifies the experience of being-together in an increasingly complex social, political, and cultural environment. The collective will develop a large-scale wall drawing for Dunlop Art Gallery, accompanied by small drawings and sculptures produced during the collective's weekly sessions.

Nahúm Flores, Erik Jerezano, and Ilyana Martínez are Z'otz* Collective, formed in Toronto in 2004. The group collaborates on multi-media works, which include drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, and site-specific drawing installations. The members of the Collective have exhibited extensively, both individually and collaboratively throughout Canada, the United States, Central and South America, and Europe.

* Z'otz is the Mayan word for "bat."

Z'otz* Collective, The Substitutes and the Absence (Installation View), 2013. Photo by Trevor Hopkin.