Aesthetics of Memory and Use

Maestro Jesús’ desire to be a nonconformist was also a trait of his copper work. Yet, although his stylistic approach expanded Santa Clara’s aesthetic and technical traditions, he also conformed to its aesthetic morphologies. Maestro Jesús’ imagination was fueled by the vernacular aesthetics of his everyday life. Shapes emerged from his travels, family household, community, and the lively creatures and growing things around him. Like many artisans of Santa Clara, ideas also came from dreams. The energy of community festivals and his many visitors animated him. He studied other makers’ works in museums and craft fairs throughout Mexico. Sources for his motifs, images, and forms echoed those of objects for domestic use. Like these, his vessels were often decorated with pre-Hispanic designs, such as the double spiral, but also included the llamas he saw in Peru and the plant forms of his corn field. Over time artifacts become synecdochical elements, generating memory through use and reproduction. How are the material aesthetics of things shared between artisan-creators and perceiver? What is aesthetic sociality? How does the mimetic simulacra of reproduction and distribution intensify a relational aesthetic experience? What is artifactual afterlife? How does memory and use intensify aesthetic aura?