Scott Albrecht - Masaya, Nicaragua

Silkscreen print, edition of 50, signed and numbered by artist, unframed

Destination: Masaya, Nicaragua

Date: 17 - 22 February, 2016 

Jaunt #021

approx. 19.75"h x 27.5"w, 50cm x 70cm

“I wasn’t too sure what to expect. I had planned to see a couple different areas that were different from one another. While reading about Nicaragua or talking with people about it, I heard very different things. Ranging from “it’s an absolutely beautiful place” (which it is!) to “watch out for landmines” or “the kissing bug aka assassin bug”. It was a pretty wide spectrum of possibilities. 

One of the things that struck me the most was how bright and vibrant the cities were, and how much color was really celebrated in the communities. You could walk up any block and literally every home would be a completely different color palette from the one next to it. All rich and vibrant with their own personalities, and then as you reach the end of the block, the next block is completely different from the one you were just on. It was really beautiful. 

While I was there one of the overwhelming things I noticed was that the cities don't take on much uniformity within them. The buildings are all wildly different colors, the sidewalk tiles are often mismatched, the signage is all hand painted. It gave me an impression that everything was very unique. So when I was thinking about the edition, this stuck out to me and started to influence the way I was thinking about the piece and eventually the overall approach. I decided on not making an edition as planned but a series of unique 15x15 cm wooden tiles, each completely different from one another in both form and color —no two are the same. Staying true to the Nicaraguan spirit of uniformity."

-Scott Albrecht