The Guatamalan artist Dario Escobar (b. 1971) works in various media: sculpture, installation, painting, and drawing. His work often makes use of the concept of the readymade, but the objects Escobar choose are always altered in some way or another.

The series Composition Azules make use of amate paper – a type of paper made out of bark from fig-trees and widely used and produced in Mesoamerica in pre-Columbian times, where it was both used for writing and in religious rituals. The paper used by Escobar is produced in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Maya blue is the name of the light blue color that has been used in painting across Mesoamerica. It’s only very resently that the color has become possible to recreate.

Escobar’s works often combine elements linked to Latin-American culture with an aesthetic connected to international contemporary art.