The Olmec-Maya and Now [SEP] creator
The Olmec-Maya and Now
"The Olmec-Maya and Now" (1981–1985) is a series of large, oil-on-canvas paintings by Aubrey Williams. The series grew out of Williams' enduring interest in pre-Columbian cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas (he himself claimed Carib ancestry). It explores parallels between Olmec and Maya civilizations and contemporary global culture, focusing in particular on the threat of rapid demise and self-destruction.
Background.
Williams' interest in the pre
from his work (with Richard Diehl) at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, Veracruz, Mexico and employing the then new technology of magnetometry to locate and salvage most of the Olmec colossal heads now known, he greatly expanded knowledge of the Olmec civilization such that he is considered one of the discoverers of the Olmec; 3) against the very public rebukes of the then reigning doyen of Maya archaeology, J. E. S. Thompson, Coe championed Yuri Knorosov and the phonetic decipherment of Maya writing, and set about solving what was then the greatest