When I visited Eamon Ore-Giron restaurant Talk dirty to Amaru“Grounded,” currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, I was struck by the cozy quality of the painting—the vibrant color palette, the bold shapes that draw the eye from edge to edge. The composition approaches symmetry but never quite achieves it, and the whole painting is animated by a certain verve and versatility. Negative space serves as a visual digestion, arranged around eye-catching patterns and vibrant colors, allowing the viewer to interpret them themselves. As the title suggests, Talk dirty to Amaru It’s a conversation, albeit a visual one.
The painting depicts an interdimensional hybrid creature from Andean mythology, fitting the Los Angeles-based artist’s semi-abstract, semi-figurative style. in his Nonsense Throughout the collection, Ore-Giron engages in an ongoing dialogue with the artistic heritage of ancient America, embracing the symbols and forms of ancient Andean and Inca textile, architecture, mosaic and ceramic practices. He was particularly fond of the artistic technique of contour competition – a visual style rooted in the Chavín culture of the central Andes. Ergelon’s own style has passed through various stages of figuration and abstraction, and in the process he has developed his own visual language – a language that meets the expectations of contemporary Western abstract art while communicating with the mysteries of ancient American art.
“According to tradition, many abstract concepts coexist with figures within the form,” Ore-Giron told Observer . “Nature can provide some abstract primitive forms, such as patterns on snake skin or patterns on insects.”
A different ecosystem: Amaru by LACMA
Nature and its effects are the central theme of Grounded, perfectly reflecting Ore-Giron’s 2021 paintings. “This idea of nature not being something external but something internal,” he said when asked what excited him about the premise of the exhibition. “This piece in particular is internal because it’s a story that I carry with me – the gods that lived here and still live here. In essence, ‘grounding’ can actually be manifested through stories and images and the rekindling of personal relationships with these gods.”
Ergellon’s work focuses more on the viewer’s personal connection with its subject rather than imprinting a precise intention on its form or meaning. Therefore, in Talk dirty to AmaruAt first it appears as a vivid constellation of shapes, colors and various opacities, which takes on different dimensions the longer the viewer looks at it. The body is formed from colorful coordinate circles, the claws form the fluid lines of a bookend, and the tongue is anchored along the width of the linen canvas. Appropriately enough, Amaru is a god who transcends the boundaries of the aerial and terrestrial worlds, a celestial interloper. He explains that there are very few descriptions of this particular creature, and that he mainly draws them from mythological descriptions of Amaru. In his depiction of the god, Amaru is not an ancient god but one who rhymes with the customs and culture of modern Latin America.
“There are so many different ways that ancient history intersects with modernity,” Ergelon explains, expressing his fascination with the way ancient aesthetics and stories survive in the modern day, and how our concepts of modernity influence our interpretations of the past. For example, the name “Amaru” has a very different meaning in Andean culture today than it did before, giving rise to concepts of divine power and personal identity. Among Peruvian resistance fighters, “Tupac Amaru” was the name given to those who resisted colonial powers. exist Talk dirty to AmaruThe depiction of the Ogeron encompasses not only its characters but its legacy.
“It’s interesting that these gods can have these names within a culture,” Ergelon continued. “Even though cultural patterns have changed a lot. It’s gone through a lot of different changes, [but] Does not remain fixed. It’s not static. What’s most fascinating is the way these gods, these ideas, and the visual language surrounding them are constantly reinvented. “
Resist, reinvent, repeat
This theme of reinvention and resistance is present in every detail of Ergelon’s work, from the subject matter to his preference for painting on raw linen rather than raw plaster canvas. (“Sometimes there are little blades of grass that are accidentally woven in the factory,” he says of the linen. “It’s very tangible.”) As a musician and visual artist, his creative identities often intersect in the same moment of reinterpretation and cross-cultural exchange. In the 1990s, he lived in Mexico City and found rich inspiration in the city’s DJ culture, which often sampled and mixed Peruvian music. He was fascinated by the subculture’s decision to find its primary inspiration in another Latin American culture rather than Western culture. “Instead of facing north, America or Europe,” he explains. “Their main focus was the South and they looked to the South for inspiration.”
Likewise, Ore-Giron combines Latin American folk music like Cumbia with the esoteric production techniques of artists like MF DOOM. “I think it also had a profound impact on the way I approached visual language,” he says, “because it made me want to delve deeper into the history of visual language in Latin America. On a conceptual level, that’s where music and art really work together.” So, on Ore-Giron’s floor-to-ceiling linen canvases, where abstraction meets figuration, ancient meets modern, the visual rhythm rings first, intensely and resonantly.
Talk dirty to Amaru Currently at LACMA’s “ground” Through June 21, 2026. Exhibiting at James Cohan Gallery, Tribeca “Eamon Ore-Giron“From November 7 to December 20, 2025.
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