Trilce II

César Paternosto began his career as a hard-edge geometric artist, but in the late 1970s he set out to research ancient American sources of geometrical abstraction. Traveling throughout the Andean region of northern Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia, he studied and acquired scholarly expertise about traditional textiles and Inca stonework, finding in them a source of artistic inspiration. This painting, titled in homage to Peruvian César Vallejo’s 1922 book of poetry "Trilce," exemplifies Paternosto’s artworks after his Andean travels. The four parallel lines, stacked symmetrically in the center, reference the symbolism of numbers within Andean culture, while the earthy monochrome evokes the texture of stone or sand.