Photo/Foto: Lorie Novak

Mute Muses

As bananas ripen, dark spots appear on their skin. These slowly grow and multiply, forming abstract shapes that eventually engulf the whole fruit, making it rancid and spreading death across its surface. This method is used as a powerful drawing tool, and through a controlled oxidation process, narratives are suggested in order to address the political and historical impact of bananas and banana trade in Colombia and other Latin American countries the so-called “Banana Republics.”

Biography

Gonzalo Fuenmayor is a Colombian artist currently based in Miami, Florida. He received his MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachussetts in 2004, and his BFA in Fine Arts and Art Education from the School of Visual Arts in 2000.