Jane’s Art Center Exhibit: Vessels of Nostalgia, by Ceramic Artist Andres Montenegro

I named this show Vessels of Nostalgia because of what I was missing after being so far from my own self in Ohio. Finding a route back to me, has been the journey of the last few years in my practice.

The works in this exhibition not only have a root in my original love for vessel making, but also incorporate meaningful motives and ornamentations that visually originate from my upbringing living in Peru. I remember the landscapes traveling south, and north from Lima. The intricate patterns created in the sand to the east, and the relentless movement of the waves to the west were the stage for Mesoamerican civilizations to make sense of the universe as they experienced it.
I used to imagine what the evolution of the works made by these pre-Columbian would look like if uninterrupted, but I now realize I have become part of the chain in the evolution, and nothing is interrupted, it just becomes what comes next. After me, will come what follows and the chain will never drop.