All posts tagged: Mexico

RETNA “Time Traveler” on The Mexican Coast (VIDEO)

April 24, 2012 Artists

From Viejas del Mercado, Medvin Sobio and Brian Tsukomoto produced a new video trailer on the occasion of Retna’s new show “Time Traveler” at Art Careyes Mexico in Costa Careyes, Mexico next week.

Video still from Retna’s show “Time Traveler” (© Medvin Sobio and Brian Tsukomoto)

With a blazing soundtrack of Hotel California by French group The Gipsy Kings singing in Spanish with an Andalucían accent, the time traveling continues throughout many cultures and times. As a continuous electric swirling of light masks the scenes behind it, the Los Angelino graffiti and Street Artist can be glimpsed carefully and deliberately applying his personal alphabet with sooty loose ink on a thin brush as well as thick paint on a flat wide brush. In the intervening scenes one sees flashes of still images and video referencing various cultures and continents flashing by in a multilayered collage of influences like a drug induced haze.

Video still from Retna’s show “Time Traveler” (© Medvin Sobio and Brian Tsukomoto)

Images of the Week 04.01.12

April 1, 2012 Artists, On the Street

Our weekly interview with the street, featuring Alias, B.D.White, Bast, Ben Eine, Bishop 203, Gilf, Istanbul, MEMO, ND’A, Never, QRST, RWK, Sis-Art, Stikman, Vampire Cloud, and Veng (RWK).

BAST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alias. A wheat paste from Istanbul (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Vampire Cloud (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bishop 203 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Veng RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ND’A (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Never (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! We’ll be keeping an eye on this one…it is going to grow! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

B.D. White (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sis-Art sent this image of her wheat paste from Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico! (photo © Sis-Art)

MEMO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ben Eine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anonymous Gallery Presents: “Casa de Empeño” A Group Show (Mexico City, MX)

January 16, 2012 Artists, Events, Gallery, Mexico, Mexico City, Opening

Casa de Empeño

Casa de Empeño

February 2 – March 31

Opening reception: February 9, 8 – 10 pm

———— Casa de Empeño is a group exhibition based conceptually on the function a pawnshop and serves to re-examine current systems of economy, currency and exchange.

This April 9 in Mexico City Anonymous Gallery is opening a group exhibition based conceptually on the function of a pawnshop and serves to examine current systems of economy, currency and exchange. The entire 3,000 sqft of Anonymous Gallery (D.F.) will be re-designed to replicate a pawnshop environment. Based on the value of the artwork, the gallery will provide unique opportunities for collectors to own distinctive works of art through sale, loan or even trade.

At any given time, pawnshops might have an inventory that includes jewelry, gold, coins, computers, digital cameras, radios, tools, musical instruments, DVD movies, cell phones, dj equipment, bikes, books, paintings, prints, weapons, clothes, furniture, and more. Casa de empeño will feature a compelling and diverse array of artists from all over the world who create relatable objects through painting, film, photography, sculpture, drawing, print, editions and merchandise:

Paintings by artists such as Kadar Brock and Matt Jones, sculpture that includes plush gold jewelry by Megan Whitmash and luxury accessories like Birkin Bags by Shelter Serra, jewelry by Orly Genger designed by Jacklyn Mayer jaclynmayer.com. Electronics and monitors showing films from Kasper Sonne and David Ellis. Editions from Clayton Brothers, Todd James, Evan Gruzis, photographs from Tim Barber and Richard Kern, and furniture design from Chic by Accident. The exhibition will also feature a library of artist developed books, zines, magazines, posters, and museum catalogues for sale from institutions including MUAC and Carillo Hill.

In a typical pawnshop customers pledge property as collateral, and in return, pawnbrokers lend them money. When customers pay back the loan, their merchandise is returned to them. Anonymous Gallery however, will be providing several opportunities for its customers:

1) Purchase
a. customers can purchase available inventory at the available retail price.

2) Trade
a. Customers can offer a provided service of equal or greater value in exchange for selected artwork.
b. Customers can offer another item of equal or greater value in exchange for valuable artwork.

3) Loan
a. Throughout the duration of the exhibition customers can loan and consign works of art to the gallery for sale at an agreed retail price.
b. Customers can borrow or rent artworks for a specified duration of time based on a fee established by the gallery and selected artist.

Anonymous Gallery Presents: “Fresh Kills” A Group Art Exhibition. (Mexico City, Mexico)

November 15, 2011 Artists, Events, Gallery, Mexico, Mexico City, Opening

Fresh Kills

FRESH KILLS

November 17 – January 15

Opening reception: November 17, 6pm – 10pm (11/17/11)

Aaron Young . Agathe Snow . Barry McGee . David Ellis .

Greg Lamarche . Hanna Liden . Richard Prince . Swoon . Tom Sachs

_____________________

Anonymous Gallery’s inaugural exhibition in Mexico City reflects the gallery’s current

and future program. FRESH KILLS will serve as a small survey of 9 important artists

that have lived and worked in New York City and that are actively influenced by their

surroundings, use materials’ specific to the region and who have directly transformed

the landscape of one of the world’s most dynamic cities.

The selected artists aptly apply resources that most would see as refuse or appropriation

but contextualize those items in their artwork, giving it a completely new vitality and

aesthetic verbalization. With demystifying visuals, materials are treated with subversion,

where process and application are placed in the same framework, giving each object

cultural signification. Ideas of perception are evaluated through development as the

dematerialization of the trivial is transformed into symbol – art.

For over 60 years the 2,200 acres known as Fresh Kills Landfill was where 650 tons

of garbage was added each day. Now a multi-phase, 30 year, site development for the

refuse will become Fresh Kills Park. At almost three times the size of Central Park

it will be the largest park developed in New York City in over 100 years.

The transformation of what was formerly the world’s largest landfill into a

productive and beautiful cultural destination is described as

“a symbol of renewal and an expression of how our society can restore balance to its landscape.”

The exhibition FRESH KILLS is inspired not only by artists that come before this group

such as Gordon Matta Clarke and Sherrie Levine, but also Mexican contemporaries

such as Teresa Margolles, Damian Ortega, Dr. Lakra, and Gabriel Orozco

who have been inspired to use materials that reflect their culture, environment and times.

These artists: Richard Prince, Tom Sachs, Aaron Young, Agathe Snow, Hanna Liden,

Swoon, Barry McGee, David Ellis, and Greg Lamarche on different levels and in different

ways, directly give their art and the culture of New York City the same contextualization

– through process, presentation, perspectives, character and relevance

– RENEWAL!

M.City in M. City : Polish Stencillist in Mexico

September 20, 2011 Artists, Mexico, Museum

MAMUTT Arte and the Antique Toy Museum of Mexico (MUJAM) are continuing in their quest to invite the emerging slate of Street Art talents of today to bomb big time in their beloved Mexico City (D.F.). Last month Polish Street Artist M-City did 6 pieces to accompany the existing pieces by ROA, Liqen, Broken Crow, Koko, and Dronz among others.

Invited by Gonzalo Alvarez of MAMUUT, here are exclusive images of the creation of M-City working on his piece in Mexico City, where the large scale stencillist shared sketches of his work in progress with some local fans of his work.

Read our interview with M-City when he was in frozen New York in January 2010 here.

M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

The orange scaffolding is a great contrast to the graphic new piece going up by M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

M-City has a stylized stencil tag. (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

A broken skate deck becomes a perfect canvas for M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

Afloat in the wheels and cogs of industry. M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

Evidently, the feeling is mutual. M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

New M-City pieces proudly displayed. (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

The finished collaged stencil piece by M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

Jetsonorama on the Rez, ROA in Mexico (Video)

June 9, 2011 Arizona, Artists, Guanajuato, Mexico, On the Street

On the Navajo Reservation the built environment tends more toward the horizontal than say, Manhattan. The similarity is that the man made structures for both are constructed on soil first belonging to the proud tribes of people we now call “Native Americans”.

Mary Reese, by Jetsonorama (photo © courtesy of the artist)

Arizona based Street Artist Jetsonorama calls the Navajo Rez home and it is here where he plans most of his installations of wheat-pastes. The flat lands and sun parched structures, sometimes crumbling back into the dust, provide a suitable open-air gallery for his photos. The images are not somber, rather they are pulsing with life and possessing some urgency as if to remind you that these places are very alive and life stories are unfolding here.

These recent pieces are at the Cow Springs Trading Post. Judging from the scene, not much trading takes place there nowadays but Jetsonorama enlists its walls one more time to display the inhabitants of the area.

“Deshaun”, Jetsonorama. (photo © courtesy of the artist). “While installing at cow springs, we met a local youth named Deshaun. His skateboard broke while he was showing us a trick. We’re going to get him another one but he doesn’t know that yet. Thanks for the love Deshaun” Jetsonorama

Bryson with his nephew Owen. Jetsonorama (photo © courtesy of the artist)

ROA EN MEXICO : Un Video Nuevo

Belgian Street Artist ROA visited Mexico in January (see “ROA’s Magic Naturalism”) and now we have a video of his large installation in Mexico City. Whether in the detritus of the big metropolis or the bucolic country landscape, his unique and now iconic images of dead and alive animals rendered in perfect monochrome palette are never out of tune with their surroundings. Perhaps one key element in achieving this sense of context is ROA’s insistence on using as subjects the animals native to the land where he is painting.

ROA was invited by the art promoter MAMUTT ARTE in collaboration with the Antique Toy Museum Mexico (MUJAM). In the country for 3 weeks, ROA left about 15 murals in various locations like Mexico City, Guanajuato and Puebla and also collaborated with Mexican artists Saner & Sego.

Liqen Converts a Crashed Plane into a Fish Tail on Oaxacan Beach

April 26, 2011 Artists, Mexico, Oaxaca, On the Street

“Lou: It’s the American Dream in a goddamn gym bag!
Hank: You work for the American Dream. You don’t steal it.
Lou : Then this is even better. “

In the book “A Simple Plan”, by Scott Smith, a trio of friends discovers a small crashed plane with $4.4 million stuffed in a gym bag in this moral tale of greed and opportunity. Without knowing how the plane dropped from the sky, the people on the ground are left to their own devices.

Street Artist Liqen discovered this aviatory carcass on Ventanilla Beach in Oaxaca Mexico and wondered what treasure it once carried and why it stood alone on the otherwise pristine white sands of the riviera. As an artists’ imagination will do, he made a story and converted the carcass of the plane with his paint brush into a fish tail.

Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

“I did this “fish tail” in the ecstasy of the transformation, a comprehensive intervention of the stupid and amazing reality that happens at the hands of art, nature or magic. At the end of my story this fish-plane was eventually caught and died in ‘Ventanilla’, ” says Liqen.

The tail of of the fish plane now has the figure of what could be a indigenous fisherman with spear in hand, ready to haul the oversized catch. But the story does not end there.

Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

According to website Vagabond Journey, the plane once carried a cargo of marijuana and was shot down six years ago. According to local reports, narcos came with a truck to retrieve the payload immediately after it hit the sands and some locals filled their backpacks with whatever was left, which was a lot. “Whoever got over there got enough to smoke for two years,” a hotel owner is quoted as saying.

In the case of our friend Liqen there wasn’t a rich bounty that we know of. What we know however is that he couldn’t resist the urge to give the remnants of the plane a lil’ pimpin’ and he shares the following images with you here.

Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

The left wing remains, while the engine appears to have been removed. Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

In this video on Youtube, a commenter offers an alternate story on the circumstances of the plane’s crash. “It was a Colombian drug shipment that was intercepted by the Mexican army. the drugs were pushed out over the Pacific, they ditched in the ocean and crashed on the beach and got away before the Mexican army, navy or air force could get there. The only part above the sand as of April 2009 is the left engine and wing – the fuselage is completely buried.”

ROA’s Magic Naturalism: Street Art’s Wild Kingdom in Mexico

February 5, 2011 Artists, On the Street

An ant eater inspects a new friend in a small town near San Miguel De Allende in Mexico. Piece by ROA (copyright Roa)

“It was magic, Mexico”

ROA continues at the pace of a hungry prairie dog running across landscapes dusty and rusted in search of a fitting tableau for his traveling animal reserve. Fans of the Belgian Street Artist are accustomed to his rats and birds and furry creatures climbing rugged weathered urban walls in Europe and the US. More recently ROA discovered the enchanted sunlight that warms the winter earthen hues of central Mexico at the invitation of Gonzalo Alvarez of Mamutt Arte.

A buzzard adorns this abandoned construction in an agricultural area north of Mexico City. ROA (photo copyright Roa)

This “still life” by ROA is in collaboration with MUJAM (The Antique Toy Museum of Mexico City) (photo copyright Roa)

“I love to integrate the native animals of the country I visit,” he relates as he talks about the armadillo, buzzards, raccoon, anteater, and fighting cock he gave to his hosts in the metropolis Mexico City and a bit north in the tiny town of Jamaica in the State of Guanajuato. Part naturalist and part social activist, ROA gives center stage to the underdogs of the natural world as if to elevate their status among the lions and peacocks of the planet.

“This big armadillo was a new one for me, ” says the artist about his piece on the facade of The House of Cauce Ciudadano A.C., a non-profit youth services center that serves young people in Mexico City. ROA (photo copyright Roa)

Adhering to an austere monochrome palette, he swiftly renders his realist studies using cans and a variety of caps over a rollered silhouette of blanco, if necessary. With wiley coyote agility, a sharply assessing eye and an audacious appetite for painting as many walls as you can source for him, this quick-moving Street Artist continues to populate the wild ROA kingdom wherever he migrates.

A visit to a farm raising roosters in Jamaica, Guanajuato inspired ROA to create a fowl portrait on the side of a home (below) (photo copyright Roa)

ROA (photo copyright Roa)

…….BSA…………….BSA…………………BSA…………..BSA…………….BSA…………………BSA

ROA would like to extend a big thanks for everything to the wonderful people who welcomed him in Mexico, particularly Gonzalo at Mamutt Arte and Roberto from MUJAM.

MUJAM (MUSEO DEL JUGUETE ANTIGUO MEXICO) http://toymuseummexico.com/

Click here to learn more about Cauce Ciudadado C.A.

More ROA on Brooklyn Street Art

VIDEO: ROA on the Water Tower

VIDEO: ROA in NYC with BSA – The Ibis

INTERVIEW: Winging It With ROA – FreeStyle Urban Naturalist Lands Feet First in Brooklyn

Flying High With ROA in Brooklyn, NYC

Photo copyright Jaime Rojo

Happy New Year! BSA Highlights of 2010

December 31, 2010 Artists

As we start a new year, we say thank you for the last one.

And Thank You to the artists who shared their 11 Wishes for 2011 with Brooklyn Street Art; Conor Harrington, Eli Cook, Indigo, Gilf, Todd Mazer, Vasco Mucci, Kimberly Brooks, Rusty Rehl, Tip Toe, Samson, and Ludo. You each contributed a very cool gift to the BSA family, and we’re grateful.

We looked over the last year to take in all the great projects we were in and fascinating people we had the pleasure to work with. It was a helluva year, and please take a look at the highlights to get an idea what a rich cultural explosion we are all a part of at this moment.

The new year already has some amazing new opportunities to celebrate Street Art and artists. We are looking forward to meeting you and playing with you and working with you in 2011.

A very special thanks to Kimberly Brooks and the team at Huffington Post for seeing the value of Street Art and for encouraging us to be a part of the HuffPost Arts coverage in 2010. It has been a great honor and we look forward to more great stuff in ’11.

Specter does “Gentrification Series” © Jaime Rojo

NohJ Coley and Gaia © Jaime Rojo

Jef Aerosol’s tribute to Basquiat © Jaime Rojo

Imminent Disaster © Steven P. Harrington

Fauxreel (photo courtesy the artist)

Chris Stain at Brooklyn Bowl © Jaime Rojo

Various & Gould © Jaime Rojo

Anthony Lister on the street © Jaime Rojo

Trusto Corp was lovin it.

Martha Cooper, Shepard Fairey © Jaime Rojo

BSA’s Auction for Free Arts NYC

Crotched objects began appearing on the street this year. © Jaime Rojo

Interview on the street with Shepard Fairey doing tribute to Martha Cooper
BSA & Street Artists Give to NYC KIDS: A gift of Art and Self-Confidence
With 60 artists, 73 artworks, over 600 guests, and a happy vibe created by the mad-scientists Sifunk & Garmunkle at music mission control, the Street Art New York Silent Auction Benefit for Free Arts NYC raised $20K.

See the art from BSA’s Auction on Flickr
Banksy Hits San Francisco
BSA Review; New York preview of Opening of Banky’s “Exit Through the Giftshop” – Review

BSA gets some walls for ROA © Jaime Rojo

Dolk at Brooklynite © Steven P. Harrington

BSA gets Ludo some action “Pretty Malevolence” © Jaime Rojo

The Crest Hardware Art Show © Jaime Rojo

NohJ Coley © Jaime Rojo

The Phun Phactory Reboot in Williamsburg © Steven P. Harrington

Pop Surrealism? Aisle 2. French Realism? – Check the Shovels Art Show in a Hardware Store: If you are not too suspicious or jaded, this may be one of the best shows of the season. (Crest Hardware Store)
Phun Phactory 10 Years Later, a Reunion on The Street
NohJColey Advances The New Guard of Street Art
Street Artist Gaia: An “Urban Romantic” Re-combines History and Myth
Apolo Torres – “Tempestade” in Sao Paulo
New York is a Zoo! Street Art and the Animal Kingdom
Street Artists Faile Talk About the Social & Political
A Visit to Stroke02 Festival in Munich, Germany
“Know Hope” Depicts Conflict in Israel

Sarah Palin by Billi Kid

“Bienvenidos” campaign

Sure. Photo courtesy Faust

and on the Huffington Post:

10 Best Street Art Moments of the Decade (PHOTOS)

Best Brooklyn Street Art of 2010 (SLIDESHOW)

==========

Huichol Art: Transforming A Vintage Beetle in Mexico

December 11, 2010 Artists, Fundraising, Mexico, Museum

Pimping Your Ride Via Indigenous Traditions

Applying beads to the “Vochol” (Vocho + Huichol) Image from the Facebook page of Museo de Arte Popular.

Mexico’s Indigenous people have been making art from millenia. When the Spanish invaded and conquered what’s now modern Mexico in 1492 they found complex metropolis, their buildings decorated with intricately carved sculptures and brightly colored painting. The painful conquest didn’t annihilate their passion for art making and in modern times their new works of elaborate pieces of art are often displayed in museums’ collections.

For the opening, some of the artists appeared in traditional garb of The Huichol, an indigenous ethnic group of western central Mexico

For this piece eight members of two Huichol families took the task to create a piece of art, seven months in the making, by using more than two million glass beads and a vintage Volkswagen as a canvas. Inspired by the designs of Francisco Bautista, a patriarch of one of the families, they incorporated their traditional indigenous theologies and cultural symbols with modern vernacular.

The serpents on the the front design represent “rain”, while the the roof is decorated with the sun and four eagles. Birds were thought to be the intermediaries between gods and mortals. The rear part and sides are tributes or “ofrendas” of fruits of the earth to their gods.

The piece will be shown at Museo de Arte Popular for a period of time and then the four wheeled piece will be go on tour in Europe and the in the rest of the Americas. Finally the piece will be sold at auction with the proceeds of the sale to benefit the programs of the museum.

Ernesto Yerena: Art Without Borders

November 11, 2010 Arizona, Artists, California, Events, Gallery, L.A., Los Angeles, Mexico, Opening, San Francisco

Ernesto Yerena knows about borders. The Mexican-American has been crossing them since he was born on the national border in tiny El Centro, CA. Now the 24 year old is crossing the border from Obey Giant studio assistant to featured artist in his first solo show at White Walls Gallery in San Francisco this Saturday.

Photo © Todd Mazer

For the past few months Ernesto has been at work in his garage/studio in Los Angeles preparing. With help of the talented photographer Todd Mazer, we get to see these exclusive images of Ernesto finishing his final piece for the show, “Ganas 20/20”.

For someone with an acute eye and the sensitivity of an artist, growing up in a border town 15 minutes from Mexicali, daily life in such a culturally rich and tumultuous environment can also be a wellspring of inspiration. The mundane, daily crossing over the border after school as a boy to visit with his grandmother and family in Mexicali, gave him insight into the complex lives of families who just happen to be geographically sprouted along an invisible political dotted line. Today that dotted line has razor wire that cuts everyone it touches.

Photo © Todd Mazer

Ernesto began some cutting of his own when he received a stencil cutting set for his tenth birthday from his grandfather. During time away from his business painting cars and doing auto-body repair, his father encouraged the boys’ painting projects and showed him how to cut stencils. As a youth Ernesto felt motivated and supported by his family to go to art school and sharpen his artistic skills.

As he got older, the geopolitical realities of the harsh cultural and social landscape where he was growing awakened his intellectual curiosity and desire to better understand his social surroundings.

A teen listening to his own bi-national music collection including Public Enemy and Mexican rockers Mana, he got a better handle on the underlying racism and social inequities that plague the American landscape. When his artistic chops got him an opportunity at age 19 to work alongside Shepard Fairey, the street artist known for frequently incorporating social justice and political themes into his work, Ernesto found a stronger voice.

Ernesto’s world of two countries, difficult border life, socially conscious music, a deep interest in history and human rights have prepared him to face, as an artist, the recent fierce issue of immigration in this country and in Arizona in particular. In collaboration with Shepard he produced, at his imprint “Hecho Con Ganas” or HCG, one of the posters that protesters in Arizona have used as a tool to denounce the racist and demonizing rhetoric coloring the immigration debate as well as SB1070, a bill that codifies racial profiling into law.

This Saturday night Ernesto crosses another invisible border as the White Walls Gallery provides a space for his new work in his first solo show.

Photo © Todd Mazer

Photo © Todd Mazer

Photo © Todd Mazer

Photo © Todd Mazer

Photo © Todd Mazer

Photo © Todd Mazer

Photo © Todd Mazer

Click on the link below to visit Ernesto’s “imprint” HCG (Hecho Con Ganas)

Hecho Con Ganas

Ernesto’s solo show “Ganas 20/20” Opens this Saturday, November 13 at the White Walls Gallery in San Francisco. The gallery is located at 835 Larking Street. San Francisco, CA. 94109

Thanks again to photographer and videographer Todd Mazer for these images he shot exclusively for Brooklyn Street Art.

To see more of Todd Mazer work click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/legenddairy/

Street Art And The Day Of The Dead

November 2, 2010 Artists, Day Of The Dead, Mexico, On the Street

“Dia de los Muertos”

Skulls are everywhere on the street today, and here is a collection to mark The Day of the Dead. The commemoration of people who have passed is observed nation-wide in Mexico every year at this time. Although it is not a national holiday, the strictly religious and cultural observance is revered and, depending on the region, it varies in the ways in which the holiday is marked.

The cultural aspect of this holiday has inspired many artists, filmmakers and poets. Here we have selected images of Street Art culled from our library to mark the Dia de Los Muertos, focusing on the most prominent symbol used to represent this holiday: “Las Calaveras” or skulls.

Mexico’s “Dia de los Muertos” or “Day of the Dead” takes place every year on November 2 to coincide with the catholic holiday of “El Dia de los Santos” or “All Saints Day”. The Day of the Dead is not the Mexican equivalent of Halloween. The Day of the Dead in Mexico is a celebration of Death and it does not carry any of the connotations of fear, fantasy and gore that Halloween does.

This religious and cultural holiday can be traced as long ago as 3000 years. Before the conquest of what’s now modern Mexico in the pre-Hispanic era the indigenous cultures celebrated death, rebirth and their ancestors by displaying human skulls as memento mori.

When the Spanish missionaries arrived more than 500 years ago they tried without success to eradicate such pagan and sacrilegious celebrations that seem to mock death while converting the indigenous people to Christianity. To the Spaniards death was the end of life but to the Aztecs it was a continuation of a journey not yet completed. The Aztecs embraced death and they celebrated it for the entire month of August, the ninth month of the Aztec Calendar, and the festivities were presided by the goddess Mictecacihuatl or “Lady of the Dead” presumed to have died at birth.

The Spaniards were met with fierce resistance in their attempts to vanish the rituals so in frustration they sought and found a common ground with the natives by moving the pagan rituals to coincide with the Catholic holiday of “El Dia de los Santos” or “All Saints Day” on November 2.

Hellbent (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Modern Mexicans remember their friends and family members that have departed from life by honoring them with extravagant festivities that, depending in the region might include lavish offerings or “ofrendas” in private altars in the cemeteries at the tombs of their loved ones and/or at home. It is a day of celebration and many people elect to stay overnight at the cemetery for prayer, and remembrance but partying, eating and drinking is encouraged and expected always following the norms of respect and decorum for the defunct.

These “ofrendas” or gifts include the most favored dishes, foods and beverages that their loved ones enjoyed while alive. They also include photos and other personal mementos of the deceased ones. The “ofrendas” are meant to be eaten and shared by the relatives and friends of the departed and sometimes they are very elaborate five course dinners. Other times the relatives might choose to have a daytime picnic at the cemetery and return to their homes at dusk. The “ofrendas” are believed to nurture and help the souls of the dead while in their journey to heaven.

Some people use this day to just take their customary once a year trip to the cemetery to clean and maintain the tomb of their loved ones.

Y Te Fuistes (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Regardless of the singular cultural distinction of each region two symbols are common throughout the country: “La Calavera” or The Sugar Skull and “La Catrina” or The Skeleton Lady. The Skulls can be made of sugar and chocolate and often are inscribed with the recipient’s names and are gifts to both the living and the dead. There is also “El Pan de Muertos” or “Bread of the Dead” which Mexicans give as gifts to the visiting relatives for their journey back home.

It is said that Mexicans not only celebrate death they also eat it.

Viki (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Main Banner image credit: Jose Guadalupe Posada “Gran Calavera Eléctrica” Courtesy Library of Congress.

Images Of The Week: 05.19.24
May 19, 2024
Welcome to BSA’s Images of the Week. And welcome to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where history and modernity converge in its …Read More »
“Hit The North” Belfast 2024: Completed Murals, Part 2
May 16, 2024
The “Hit the North” street art festival in Belfast is possibly Ireland’s largest street art event, established in 2013 by …Read More »
Elfo Living La Vida Loca In Italy
May 14, 2024
Elfo goes to the countryside in Italy and writes VIDA LOCA! Is the artist telling us to stop worrying about …Read More »
BSA Images Of The Week: 05.12.24 / Dublin
May 12, 2024
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week. This week, BSA visited Dublin to see the city, talk to people, and …Read More »
Mando Marie – “Take Me Down” at Straat Gallery
May 9, 2024
Mando Marie, an American artist currently dividing her time between Amsterdam and Portugal, stands out with her unique blend of …Read More »
“Hit The North” Belfast 2024: Completed Murals, Part 1
May 6, 2024
Fast and furious, that’s how the neighborhood filled with people – and how the paint hit the walls yesterday. Returning …Read More »
“Hit The North” Belfast 2024. Dispatch 2
May 5, 2024
You might not expect it, but the Belfast Cathedral Quarter was quite a mad rush of activity on Sunday morning. …Read More »

Video still from Retna’s show “Time Traveler” (© Medvin Sobio and Brian Tsukomoto)

Video still from Retna’s show “Time Traveler” (© Medvin Sobio and Brian Tsukomoto)

Video still from Retna’s show “Time Traveler” (© Medvin Sobio and Brian Tsukomoto)

Video still from Retna’s show “Time Traveler” (© Medvin Sobio and Brian Tsukomoto)

BAST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BAST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alias. A wheat paste from Istanbul (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Vampire Cloud (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bishop 203 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Veng RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ND’A (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Never (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! We’ll be keeping an eye on this one…it is going to grow! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

B.D. White (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sis-Art sent this image of her wheat paste from Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico! (photo © Sis-Art)

MEMO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ben Eine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ben Eine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled (photo © Jaime Rojo)

M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

The orange scaffolding is a great contrast to the graphic new piece going up by M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

M-City has a stylized stencil tag. (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

A broken skate deck becomes a perfect canvas for M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

Afloat in the wheels and cogs of industry. M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

Evidently, the feeling is mutual. M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

New M-City pieces proudly displayed. (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

The finished collaged stencil piece by M-City (photo © Gonzalo Alvarez)

Mary Reese, by Jetsonorama (photo © courtesy of the artist)

Bryson with his nephew Owen. Jetsonorama (photo © courtesy of the artist)

ROA EN MEXICO : Un Video Nuevo

Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

The left wing remains, while the engine appears to have been removed. Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

An ant eater inspects a new friend in a small town near San Miguel De Allende in Mexico. Piece by ROA (copyright Roa)

“It was magic, Mexico”

A buzzard adorns this abandoned construction in an agricultural area north of Mexico City. ROA (photo copyright Roa)

This “still life” by ROA is in collaboration with MUJAM (The Antique Toy Museum of Mexico City) (photo copyright Roa)

“This big armadillo was a new one for me, ” says the artist about his piece on the facade of The House of Cauce Ciudadano A.C., a non-profit youth services center that serves young people in Mexico City. ROA (photo copyright Roa)

A visit to a farm raising roosters in Jamaica, Guanajuato inspired ROA to create a fowl portrait on the side of a home (below) (photo copyright Roa)

ROA (photo copyright Roa)

ROA (photo copyright Roa)

More ROA on Brooklyn Street Art

As we start a new year, we say thank you for the last one.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Pimping Your Ride Via Indigenous Traditions

For the opening, some of the artists appeared in traditional garb of The Huichol, an indigenous ethnic group of western central Mexico

“Dia de los Muertos”

PeruanaAnaperu (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

PeruanaAnaperu (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia Channels Mexican Artist Jose Guadalupe Posada (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia Channels Mexican Artist Jose Guadalupe Posada (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Booker (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Booker (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Spazmat/Skullphone (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Spazmat/Skullphone (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Viki (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Main Banner image credit: Jose Guadalupe Posada “Gran Calavera Eléctrica” Courtesy Library of Congress.