Showing posts with label Alebrijes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alebrijes. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

My journey into Mexican Folk Art


Sunset Egret by Joyce Wycoff
My life seems like a long, slow, surprising tiptoe into art. Nothing in my early years hinted at where I’ve wound up: no art in my family, little art in my school life, and far more pressing issues in my early adulthood. I was a practical person and art would pay no bills.

Slowly though, art tapped at my door, peeked around the corner, and finally moved in, lock, stock, camera and Photoshop. With great hesitation, in late mid-life, I finally called myself an artist. The art I make is modern … bright colors, the juxtaposition of opposites, and the sometimes startling emergence that happens when two unrelated things join together and something completely unexpected arises from that joining.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Did a dream change Mexico’s art forever?

Purple-dotted three-headed dragons, orange-striped unicorns, multicolored armadillos, a turquoise-winged owl with a human face. Where do all these brightly painted mystical, fantasy creatures come from? Called alebrijes (Spanish pronunciation: [aleˈβɾixes]), this popular form of Mexican folk art stems from one man’s dream … well, maybe.
Buho Nahual by Zeny & Reyna Fuentes

The popular story is that the term and this form of art came forth when Pedro Linares fell ill.  Wikipedia tells us this story: