Guatemalan Artist Emanuel Paniagua

Emanuel Paniagua is a Guatemalan fine artist. He was born in Guatemala City in 1958 and has been living in Mexico since his early youth. His works are a reflection of the Mayan and Mexican artistic and cultural heritage. His works can be found in collections all over the world.

Paniagua has been off the art scenario for several years but he is back with new and exciting work as can be seen in his Black & White series. In this series the artist draws upon the special effect produced by the wide spectrum of gray in combination with white and deep black. Rich in visual texture, the light and dark effect add depth and drama to these complex compositions with juxtaposed perspectives and contrasting rhythm.

The fine works by Emanuel Paniagua has been characterised from its beginnings by its versatility; beginning with the drawing, he soon incorporated a variety of materials in his work, such as wood carving, handcrafted textiles, ceramics of high and low temperature, with preference for terra-cotta, sand of different provenances and color, stone river, pulverized marble, diverse metals and of course oil on canvas.

The secret of the elements

“I was born into an aesthetic culture that has been crafted through centuries with artistic mastery in weavings, clay and stone. The distillation of this collective creation is our communal tradition,  our patrimony. I am always in search of color, I want to discover it. This is a discovery guided by instinct and  that has becomes almost an invention, like recreating something of ourselves. I sink my hands into the earth from which I was born. When I come into contact with a particular material, I search for its secret, soliciting its intimate confession, overjoyed when I touch its wisdom. Often, this encounter takes time to mature and when it happens, in rare and luminous moments, we celebrate our encounter together… and a good painting emerges.