Namsan is considered a sacred site in Gyeongju, the capital of the Silla kingdom (57 BCE–935 CE). In this work, Park Dae Sung, whose home is in Gyeongju, incorporates a multitude of sculptures and architectural structures of culturally important sites, such as Cheomseongdae. Park’s versatility of forms and brushwork is evident in the undulating abstract style.

The Diamond Mountain range, located in present-day North Korea, is one of the most revered mountain ranges of the Korean peninsula. Since the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), before the peninsula was divided, literati painters often paid homage to the Diamond Mountains in a realistic and traditional rendering. This reimagined scene indicates Park Dae Sung’s roots—learning from the ways of the old masters—as well as his openness to contemporary experimentation, as manifested by his bold and dynamic strokes. 

Listen to the voices of Mamo Camilo Izquierdo and Jaison Pérez Villafaña (Arhuaco elders) as you participate in a guided exercise of deep thinking and reflection related to the concepts and works presented in this exhibition. (4 minutes)

In 2019 LACMA acquired a monumental painting by the Bolivian painter Melchor Pérez Holguín, which was restored for the exhibition "Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800." Referred to as the “Golden Brush,” Pérez Holguín was regarded as one of the most important painters of Potosí, Bolivia, in his own day and beyond. This stirring painting was designed to invoke piety and arouse the senses, all while appealing to local forms of taste and religiosity.

Listen to the voice of Jaison Perez Villafaña (Arhuaco elder) as you participate in a guided exercise of deep thinking and reflection related to the concepts and works presented in this exhibition. (Spanish with English translation, 8 minutes)

This being, with ferocious fangs and bulging eyes, once stood guard at the entrance to a megalithic tomb in southern Colombia at a site known as San Agustín. More than four hundred stone sculptures remain at San Agustín; most are far larger than this one, measuring up to seven meters tall. Their sculpting, transportation, and final placement was an enormous feat of engineering. The majority of sculptures from San Agustín are hybrid beings, suggesting a fluidity between human and animal beings.

Birds populate the heavens and maintain the connection between this world and the spirit world. Feathers therefore bear strong magical capacities; when the human body is clothed in feathers, the mind gains the possibility of flight. Feathers also allow ritual specialists to gain contact with supernatural beings and utilize their powers. Shamans have the ability to leave their bodies to fly throughout the universe. Ritual items ornamented with feathers connect the shaman with his avian spirit helpers and contribute to curing sickness.
  

Plants nourish our bodies and minds, and the cultivation and consumption of plants both creates and relies on an intimate knowledge of them. Some plants are especially powerful. Tobacco, coca, hot chilies, manioc, corn, plants that produce pigments for body paint, and narcotic plants such as yagé and ayahuasca are considered as gifts from or even the embodiment of powerful beings.