Article by Keinosuke Murata

I have never been to Bolivia, but I shall never forget the crouching figures of the Indians I met in the highlands of Peru, next to Bolivia. They gave me the feeling of something fatal, but, furthermore, that they are deeply rooted in the ground and embody the stubborn will of history.

The Indians painted by Montes, from Bolivia, are bound to the motherland of Pachamama, stretching far and wide and standing out against the luminous sky as isolated souls filled with complete silence.

To recreate this eternal drama, the painter uses just earth colours and the tempera technique, creating an almost monochrome space which breathes in the reflection of light. He uses no frames. He does not want to enclose this space.

In 1960 Montes moved to London. And it is from then on that these Bolivian images have taken form in his paintings. This is not due to nostalgia, but to his finding of a firm ground within the exciting movement of the fine arts in the 1960s.

The painter came to Japan seven years ago and felt deeply drawn to this old white wooden architecture and shibui texture of adobe walls. It seems to me that there is a connection between these Indians and the Japanese with their culture of crouching.

The paintings by Montes are beyond the individual climate excellent pieces of poetry of an important link between the human being and the earth.

Keinosuke Murata

Director

Okamoto Taro Memorial Museum

Chiva, Japan