Cloth (tzute) 1900 - 1920

This is a cloth or tzute made by a Maya artist. It’s a textile, so instead of paint, the medium is thread. The threads form horizontal lines of pink and red. Each line is slightly different, and the effect is kind of like a painting made of stripes, or maybe a drawing rendered in fabric. Up close, you can see the texture of the woven threads. There are small imperfections and areas where the color shifts. These little details give the cloth a handmade feel. It's the kind of thing that makes you think about the person who made it, their hands moving back and forth, creating the pattern, one row at a time. I like how the colors vibrate against each other. It reminds me a little bit of Agnes Martin's paintings, which also have this quiet, meditative quality. Both artists are using repetition to create a sense of calm. There's a real beauty here in simplicity and imperfection. It’s the kind of art that rewards close looking, inviting you to slow down and appreciate the subtle variations that make it unique.