MAIZE OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS

In Maïs des Indiens d'Amérique, JChadima transforms a familiar botanical subject into a richly coloured study of nature, abundance, cultural heritage, and extraordinary chromatic diversity. Painted in 2019 from a photograph of Native American corn, the work focuses on the remarkable variations of colour and form contained within a single ear, elevating an agricultural plant into a commanding visual presence.

The extraordinary colours represented in the painting are drawn from real Native American corn and are not an abstract invention. Brilliant yellows, greens, oranges, reds, blues, and violets reflect the remarkable natural diversity found among Indigenous corn varieties. Cultivated in the Americas for thousands of years, corn has been preserved across generations by Indigenous peoples and is deeply connected to sustenance, community, tradition, and cultural continuity. The painting therefore presents not simply a botanical specimen, but a living form carrying an ancient and enduring heritage.

The tightly framed composition brings the viewer directly into the surface of the corn. Individual kernels become almost jewel-like forms, densely arranged yet each retaining its own character. Carefully placed highlights create a rhythmic progression across the canvas, while the surrounding husks and delicate strands of corn silk provide an organic counterpoint to the rounded geometry of the kernels.

Central to the painting is JChadima’s use of an Old Masters glazing technique. More than twenty layers of differently coloured transparent varnishes were applied to build depth, luminosity, and chromatic complexity. The successive glazes allow light to appear to penetrate the painted layers, giving the kernels their distinctive richness and almost translucent, polished appearance.

The technique creates a compelling dialogue between historical European painting practices and a Native American subject with roots extending back thousands of years. By bringing these traditions together, JChadima connects European craftsmanship with the enduring Indigenous heritage of the Americas, while preserving the immediate beauty and vitality of the corn itself.

Repetition becomes a source of movement rather than uniformity. Individual kernels accumulate into a larger organic structure, while variations in colour, scale, reflection, and placement emphasize the individuality and diversity contained within the unified whole.

Maïs des Indiens d'Amérique ultimately celebrates both the extraordinary beauty of a real natural form and the long cultural heritage embodied within it. Through magnification, saturated colour, and the slow accumulation of more than twenty translucent layers, JChadima brings attention to Native American culture in this piece as an expression of cultural memory, diversity, continuity, resilience, and the enduring relationship between diverse cultures.

Provenance :

Certificate Number : 20231104110931 REFERENCE/ISNI : 2019-0

AKOUN certified: 2600 Euros

EXHIBITIONS :

24th SALON DES PEINTRES DU MARAIS, HALLE DES BANCS MANTEAUX, PARIS.