Art and Culture in Guayaquil
Museums in Guayaquil
MAAC:
The "Anthropological and Contemporary Art" Museum (MAAC) of the Ecuadorian Central Bank opened at Malecon 2000 in mid August 2004.
The exhibits that are now open at the museum are:
Realms of Ecuadorian Art: a journey through the Ecuadorian art manifestations from the second half of the XIX Century up to the XX Century. This exhibit is divided in four "realms": Building the modern space", "Critical routes of art", "Imagining a world of its own" and "Search and opening".
Poetical to the edge:
Includes a sample of the Ecuadorian artistical production since the 80´s.
Enrique Tabara’s Exhibit:
Enrique Tábara is a renowed artist from Guayaquil (1930). He entered the artistical scene in Ecuador at the end of the 40´s and beggining of the 50´s, when the Social Realism current was taking place. He discussed the stereotypes and proposed a style of his own. Tabara visited popular places in Guayaquil and painted the reality as he saw it. The first part of the exhibit shows his works during this period.
In 1955 he traveled to Barcelona in Spain and was influenced by the Informalism current that was taking place in Europe at the time. He started experimenting with different materials and textures and produced a number of innovating art pieces. The next part of the exhibit displays his art works during this second stage.
On his return to Ecuador, Tabara returned to his roots through the Latinamerican current of "ancestralism", which finds inspiration in pre-Hispanic cultures that inhabited the continent (third stage).
Finally, he started to paint simple shapes inspired in nature, and also other simple structures like the patas-patas".
The displays of each stage of his art are enriched with a short movie where the artist himself talks about that period of his artistic life, and one is able to see him working on the paintings that are exhibited.
We highly recommend this exhibit, which gives the unique opportunity of an almost "personal dialogue" with a fascinating artist.