Ronny Quevedo (b.1981, Guayaquil, Ecuador). los desaparecidos (the arbiter of time), 2018. Wax, pattern paper and gold leaf on muslin, 50 x 62 inches. Purchased with generous funds from the Marion G. Hendrie Fund, Ralph L. & Florence R. Burgess Trust, and Alianza de las Artes Americanas in honor of Ruth Tomlingson. © Ronny Quevedo

Ronny Quevedo 
Ecuadorian, born 1981, lives and works in New York 
los desaparecidos (the arbiter of time), 2018 CE
Waxed pattern paper and gold leaf on muslin 
Purchased with generous funds from the Marion G. Hendrie Fund, Ralph L. and Florence R. Burgess Trust and Alianza de las Artes Americanas in honor of Ruth Tomlingson, 2019.85
 

In los desaparecidos, Ronny Quevedo considers his family’s history of migration, displacement, and adaptation within the larger narrative of conquest and colonization. The work incorporates materials and imagery that refer to the professions of his parents and the culture of his homeland, Ecuador. Pieces of a shirt pattern with applied gold leaf allude to his mother’s labor as a seamstress as well as to the bodies of those who have disappeared under brutal dictatorial regimes. In the center of the work, a series of lines radiates outward in an arrangement that recalls a clock face. The lines mark a 45-minute segment, the number of minutes in a soccer period, in a reference to Quevedo’s father, a professional soccer player and referee. 

Numbers written in the Quechua language appear along several lines, marking the passing of minutes, hours, and years. The lines also evoke the Inka khipu, a mnemonic device made up of knotted cords of varying lengths and colors used throughout the Inka Empire to track the movement of goods and people. The image of the khipu connects the work back to Ecuador, the northernmost outpost of the Inka Empire and the starting point for the Quevedos’ journey to the Bronx. 

—VL

Provenance Statement:

Purchased from Upfor gallery May 2019; collection of the artist.

Further Reading: 

Lyall, Victoria I., Jorge F. Rivas Pérez, Eds. Revision: A New Look at Art in the Americas. Denver Art Museum, Hirmer Verlag GmbH:176.
 

• “ReVision: Art in the Americas” — Denver Art Museum, 10/24/2021 – 7/17/2022