David Gremard Romero, who is also known as Chicome Itzcuintli Amatlapalli, his Nahua name, is a Mexican and US artist, who grew up in the LA area but now lives in Mexico City. He is mixed race, part white US American, and part Wixarica, a First Nations tribe in Mexico, and gay. He practices the traditional Mexicayotl faith, an indigenous religion and philosophical system native to Mexico.
In his work he explores native traditions and spirituality, taking as his subject the ideas, sacred narratives, and visual language of his ancestors, so long demeaned by Eurocentric culture, and attempts re-tell them, creating a fusion of styles meant to make them new and accessible to modern Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. His work is an exercise in de-colonization, through which the profound narratives of our ancestors are returned to life.
This painting is a map of the cosmos as understood by my ancestors. It represents the four directions and the center as an eight lobed flower, at whose center stands Xiuhtecuhtli, the Turquoise Lord, god of fire, time, and wisdom, about whose flaming body all being whirls.
The four large lobes represent the four directions, with East at the top, the region of the rising sun, North, the land of the dead, at the left, West, the region of women, at the bottom, and South, the land of the lords of rain, at the right. The petals between represent the four possible years in the ancient calendar.
Each direction is painted with one of the four trees which holds the sky in its place, and two gods who rule each direction. On the outline of each petal is painted a row of dots, and at the corners of the petals day-glyphs. The dots and day glyphs number 260, which is the number of days in a Mesoamerican year (the Mesoamerican calendar is the only calendar in the world which lasts nine months, and is based on the length of time a woman is pregnant). In Mesoamerican thought, time and space are indivisible, therefore the days associated with the directions reveal the ultimate unity of time and space. On either side stands Oxomoco and Cipactonal, who are First Grandmother and First Grandfather, the first humans created by the gods at the dawn of time. They were taught the secrets of reading the Tonalamatl, the sacred calendar, and appeared as teachers, ready to guide us towards understanding and wisdom through the mysteries of the calendar. In the spiritual thought of our ancestors, all beings are held as one in the body of Ometeotl Dual Lord/Lady, who is the heart of existence. Individuality is an illusion, particularity a myth born of the peculiarities of the human ego. Therefore, the eight lobed flower in the painting is a map of the cosmos, a calendar which records the perfect cycles of time, and a portrait of Ometeotl, who is all things, at once.
To learn more about David Gremard Romero please visit him on Instagram or follow him on Patreon.
Selected Exhibitions:
● 2014
○ ARMA BLANCA, Collectors Contemporary, Singapore.
● 2013
○ Ruta Mística, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MARCO), Monterrey, Mexico.
● 2012
○ Ukiyo-e, Carrillo Gil Museum, Mexico City, Mexico
○ Espiritualidad en el arte Latinoamericana, Museo MARCO, Monterrey, Mexico
○ Reflejos y Destellos, Lucha Libre, Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares, Mexico City, Mexico
● 2010
○ Graphic Nature, Soap Gallery. San Francisco, CA, USA
○ Art Volata, represented by Magrorocca Gallery. Milan, Italy
○ Mi Art Art Now! Fiera d¹Arte Comtemporanea Milano, Milan
● 2009
○ Threads, SomArts Gallery, San Francisco, CA
○ David Gremard Romero, Alejandra Alarcon and Floria Gonzalez; Magrorocca. Milano Italy
● 2008
○ Making Room for Wonder, SomArts Gallery. San Francisco, CA, USA
○ Is it a Fiber Show?, Bucheon Gallery. San Francisco, CA, USA
○ Aqua Miami represented by Bucheon Gallery. Miami, FL, USA
● 2007
○ Faithfully, Bucheon Gallery. San Francisco, CA, USA
● 2006
○ New Work by David Gremard Romero and Liz Ledger, Contra Costa College. CA, USA
● 2005
○ Laid Bare, Edgewise Arts. San Francisco, CA, USA
○ 22nd Annual Berkeley Art Center National Juried Exhibition. CA, USA
○ The Happiest Day, Bucheon Gallery. CA, USA
● 2004
○ Notorious, Build Gallery, San Francisco. CA, USA
○ Success! Budget Gallery. San Francisco, CA, USA
○ Blue Room Gallery. San Francisco,CA, USA
● 2003
○ Model Francois, Blue Room Gallery. San Francisco, CA, USA
● 2002
○ Men and Hard Things, Lair of the Minotaur Gallery. San Francisco, C.A, USA
○ Good Wine and Beautiful People, Lair of the Minotaur Gallery. San Francisco, C.A, USA