2022
mixed media on panel
36" x 30"
The modern Day Quitzalcoatl painting as a D.J. playing on pyramid turn tables.
oil on panel
20"x 12"
2009.
The painting"Our Lady of Merciful Fate" was created in 2009. It was the second painting I executed following my first trip to Europe. Where I spent most of my time at museums staring at paintings. I have always been particularly in awe of the works of the Flemish Primitives. My favorite artist from a technical perspective is Jan Van Eyck who is the forefront master of the Flemish Primitive painters. His masterpiece "The Arnolfini Wedding" is often considered the painting with which the renaissance began. As I spent my time gazing in amazement at these works a thought kept crossing my mind, "These were painted by men, not gods!" So with the paintings fresh in my mind and a determination to solve the riddle of Van Eyck's methods I returned home ready to paint. You can say I had something to prove as I approached the easel re-envisioning the chandelier in "The Arnolfini Wedding" as an Ornate Crown fit for a Saintly Nun, and the marbled tiled floors a staple of many early Flemish works. And no study of Van Eyck would be complete without an array of jewels hence the beaded robe of Our Lady. Clearly from a technical viewpoint "Our Lady of Merciful Fate" is an homage to the master Jan Van Eyck. However from a thematic perspective the work is inspired by the Pantheon of Saints. Inspired by the use of fear to motivate evil doers towards the light as evident through history and can be witnessed in the many haunting paintings from antiquity. With that in mind I invented Saint Merciful Fate! Who is the personification of death, carrying her book of fate in one hand and the vulture of death who separates the temporal from the eternal. Her face ispainted in the Day of the Dead decorated skull style. This is possibly my most well known image thanks to its use on the cover of The Zac Brown Band's billboard #1, grammy winning, platinum selling album "Uncaged."
oil on panel
2015.
Levee Water Blues is a painting done during my time living in New Orleans. It was inspired by personal stories I was told by the locals of what happened during Hurricane Catrina. Although ten years had past since that frightful day, constant reminders remained everywhere in the city. Where one can witness the waterline stains on the side of houses, communities still boarded up because it would cost much more to repair the houses than it would to rent an apartment. In this painting I hoped to capture the resilient soul of the citizens of New Orleans who even in griefseem to find a way to celebrate life. The model for this painting was a local street musician named Andre Lovett who I would often see busking in the streets of the French Quarter.
oil on panel
2010.
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And immortality. - Emily Dickinson
Ive always been a fan of this poem by Emily Dickenson it so easily creates a vivid image in the reader's mind's eye. It did not take much effort for me to channel this image from my mind to the painting surface.
Blue Cristo based on classic period New Mexican Santero imagery by Jose Rafael Aragon and Molleno found at the Santuario de Chimayo in Northern New Mexico.
A cubist Frida Kahlo in the wheelchair of her later life reflects back on a better time.
Death of Leroy, 2024
acrylic and oil on panel.
A throwback to my early Dia de los Muertos art style from 2001. But not so stereo typical mexican in the outfit. Representing the counter culture/ sub cultures / the diversity of the Mexican identity.
Our Lady of Sorrows
2023
oil and acrylic on panel
44” x 32” framed
Inspired by the visual language of New Mexico Santos from 200 this is my take on Nuestra Senora de Dolores New Mexican style.
A modern art cubist take on the New Mexican Dona Sebastiana sculptures associated with the Penitentes of New Mexico.
El Santero, 2023.
Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St.Louis, Missouri.
2022.
Mixed Media on panel
47” x 39”
A modern day take on New Mexico Santero imagery based on a retablo composition by Jose Rafael Aragon but revisioned in my way.
Sangre de Cristo
2022
Oil and acrylic on panel
22” x 36” framed size
2022
mixed media on panel
21.5" x 17.5"
2020
mixed media on panel
19" x 15"
This ambitious 7 panel piece I designed would have been a giant undertaking to complete it myself. It took me merely a month to sketch all the images! I wanted the work to have a New Mexican Santero vibe meets aztec codice aesthetics so I worked with artist Vicente Telles to help me bring my vision to life. Vicente painted in the clothing and the backgrounds from my sketch designs using watercolor. He also built the framing. I painted all the flesh areas of the figures in oil paint and added shadows and highlights to the elements he painted in watercolor to unify all the elements of the work. As a result the work has an interesting balance between flat painted graphic elements and dimensionally rendered oil pianted elements.
Psilocybe Oaxacana
27” x 21”
oil and gold leaf on panel.
This is painting celebrates the culture of Oaxaca. From the Tehuana dress to the Dia de los Muertos Skull and the psychadelic mushrooms of Maria Sabina. I wanted this work to have a psychadelic feel to it while at the same time very traditional.
oil on panel
48" x 48"
2012.
15” x 11”
2021.
15.5” x 12”
2020.
16” x 12”
2020.
(after Jorge Gonzalez Camarena)
graphite on paper.
2019.
oil on panel
36” x 24”
2019
oil on panel
36” x 24”
2019
Throughout this series it may appear that I’ve been tough on the Spanish but the Conquistadors would never have been able to successfully conquer Mexico without the help of the indigenous people. What would it have took for the Spanish to win such allies? Well truth be said the Mexican Territory was not all peace and love before the arrival of Cortez. Aztecs were stealing crops from neighboring tribes in order to feed their growing population. They forced these tribes to pay tribute to them.
Now lets think about heart sacrifice for a moment. It is believed that at times the Aztecs had lines of thousands of people going up to summit of the pyramid to have their heart gruesomely ripped out. The Blood of the victims was regularly used to paint walls of rooms within the pyramid. Can you imagine if your brothers and sisters suffered such a fate? We can marvel at the Aztecs astounding engineering marvels that they left us but their own sins toward their neighbors are an important piece of the puzzle in understanding their downfall.
This painting depicts the Aztec Sacrifice ritual and their belief that it was necessary to ensure the Sun would rise again tomorrow. This is represented by the heart bringing color into their world through this disturbing act of calling upon their bright darkness. I have incorporated the symbolism of the catholic sacred heart as well and the victim’s body mirrors images of a flagellated christ. Coincidentally, scientific reenactments have taught us that the rib cage is too difficult to cut through so they would have created an incision below the ribs, also mirroring christ’s wound.
oil on panel
20" x 16"
2017.
"The Oppressed" is a painting which comments on the sad reality of 21st century where still after 500 years the indiginous people of the americas remain oppressed by the european conquerers whether in the United States or Mexico this remains very evident. In Mexico you see the darkest skinned people working in the streets while their light skinned counterparts work in the boutiques. We celebrate their culture but not them as a people. The painting depicts an elderly begger on the streets of San Miguel de Allende, her head is that of the god Quitzalcotl, modeled after the relief heads found on the pyramids of Teotihuacan near Mexico City.
oil on panel
48" x 34"
2017.
This painting is done in the ex voto style commonly used in Mexico to commemorate a miracle that took place. These ex votos include text which tells the stories of what occurred and give praise to the saint believed to be responsible for the miracle. This piece is different in that no miracle occurred but rather its tells a story of how an individual lost his life. The text at the bottom of the painting translates as: "I am someone that you never met, I did not live but rather I survived. I crossed the river in hopes of finding work and respect. They found my bones 17 miles from the U.S./Mexican border. I still have not been identified."
Water jugs like the one in the hands of our subject are often left along the border to aide crossers on their long desert journey in which death and dehydration is not uncommon. He wears a backpack and Yankees hat. Certainly the backpack carries the only belongings he is able to take with him and the hat perhaps a hope for a new life in a new place. He rides across the river that divides Mexico from the United States upon the coyote. Which is symbolic of the nickname given to those whose occupation it is to help migrants cross illegally. In the sky you can see the Virgin of Guadalupe dressed in american flag themed attire and in Statue of Liberty pose watching over our subject and providing him with his final hope.
This is the companion piece to my other border crosser painting entitled “El Mojado.” In contrast to the seriousness of “El Mojado” the painting “El Gringo” depicts a common Tijuana border Souvenir Station. Where Americans pay a small sum to have their photo taken with a real donkey who is painted to look like a Zebra if that isn't exciting enough you get to choose a large sombrero to wear for your photo with a phrase painted on it favorites include “SEXY GIRL” “SANCHO” “TEQUILA” “JUST MARRIED” and “KISS ME” the less comedic types can choose the simple “Tijuana, MX”
I hope the contrast between these two paintings showcase the very real differences in the experiences one can have at the very unique place which is the Mexican/U.S. border.
Cubist/Neo-Picassoist rendition based on Frida Kahlo’s famous self portrait. Painted in miniature size.
oil on panel
6.5" x 4.5"
2018.
oil on panel
30" x 24"
2018.
“Tierra o Muerte” translates as Give me land or Give me Death. A War Cry from the Mexican Revolutionary war. This painting depicts a common Revolutionary soldier. From my Picasso Theif series of cubist paintings.
oil & acrylic on wood
24" x 12"
2017.
This piece was done in a traditional New Mexican retablo style, on a carved out piece of wood. I wanted it to contain some of the scratches and scrapes that is found on the works of the early santeros, scarred by time. However I did not stick to the traditional approach but rather chose to give it a modern twist in the direction of my Picasso theif series. The figure depicted is a newly recognized saint. The first Native American Saint, Kateri Tekakwitha of the Mohawk people. She became canonized as a saint in 2012.
oil on panel
14" x 11"
2015.
The Pursuit of happiness series of paintings are an attempt to convey images that can serve as affirmations of the things that are worth striving for in life. This particular painting is a portrait of my grandparents. When I paid a visit to the nursing home where they were living I saw my nearly blind grandmother pushing her husband down the hall in his wheelchair. It made me think wow! If you can find someone to push you around in your wheelchair when your old then surely you have found real love. The banner above them translates as “true love lasts forever.” The banner is being carried by a bird and a bee referencing my personal lineage and the source from which we all come from, ahem, the birds and the bees.
48" x 36"
2016.
The Vaquero de Paletas or “Cowboy of popsicles” is a depiction of a migrant street vendor, but I wanted him to be dressed in not so typical attire. The more Mexican Cowboy attire is meant to hint that this is a man with other ambitions than selling paletas. Perhaps he really aspires to be singer in a Norteño Banda but when circumstances create a divide between what we wish to be and what we have to be…
oil on panel
64" x 48"
2011.
oil on panel
24" x 16"
2009.
Mythos is a physical represantation of the cosmos. She is bringing the universe into being not from a void but from herself. So from this perspective everything is a part of the source, forever connected to god. Right down to you and I. I like how the constellations mimic freckles. The idea of a freckled girl turning her freckles into constellations as a way of beautifying hersel was the original idea I had and it evolved from there.
oil on panel
30 " x 60"
2009.
Passage was the first painting I attempted upon my return from a trip to Europe where I saw for the first time many old master paintings in person which I had only known from books. To stand before a multi paneled altar piece can be a powerful experience, with that in mind I wanted to try and recreate something as seemingly impactful. The "Passage" depicts a funeral procession of an old man being carried to his final resting place by his also elderly friends who know they too are stepping closer to this ultimate fate. Trailing behind the ghostly angel I snuck my dog Pico Picasso into the painting. Stylistically this piece owes its inspiration to the works of the artists known as the flemish primitives which include Jan Van Eyck and Rogier Van Der Weyden.
oil on panel
24" x 44"
2008.
Birth of Creation is a depiction of God creating the sun and the moon. God is depicted in female form since all life enters the world only through woman. She wears the mask of death to imply the necessary relationship between both creation and destruction, life and death. Many hindu gods are not only the god of one thing but they are also god of the opposite aspect as well. This is a recognition of these aspects connection to each other. you cannot have one indendent of the other.
oil on panel
36" x 48"
2008.
Ascension is a painting which is compositionally rooted in the tradtional deposition of christ and pieta images in of the renaissance. However, I wanted to take the story out of the confinds of christianity. So I depicted a dead girl being carried up to the heavens by a swarm of butterflies. Butterflies have symbolic significance in that they are born in one form(catterpiller) only to under go a remarkable transformation into another form (butterfly). It is with this in mind that we hold hopes that our lives will too continue in another form upon the inevitable confrontation of our own mortal deaths.
ink on paper
12" x 24"
2011.
This piece also known as "A Decade of Decay" was done to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of my first Day of the Dead drawing which were done before I ever learned to paint in oils. The revisiting of the black & white style is always fun. This piece mimic's the composition of my very first piece Dia de los Mueros themed pice entitled "La Ofrenda" from 2001.
ink & watercolor on paper
2010.
From When I lived in New Orleans back in 2015.
oil on panel
12” x 12
The painting "Sleeping with your Ghost" though surreal in nature was done during a period in my life when being haunted by a ghost of the past was a nightly occurrence. I was going through a tough breakup and although the girl had moved out of the house it seemed like I was being haunted by her memory. In an attempt to heal I went about trying to depict in paint the feeling that was overwhelming me. I suppose its a very vulnerable thing to do, to try and express honestly things that are not really flattering toward you. But I always say if you paint from your intellect people will react from their intellect if you paint from your heart you open the possibility that people might react with their heart. Later when this painting was exhibited I watched a freshly divorced woman look at it and sob. On another occasion someone said to me simply, “I’m glad this exists” Perhaps there is consolation in knowing that we all experience this type of pain, and In my moment of feeling alone I was actually with all the world.
ink on paper
11" x 17"
2003.
This piece is the oldest image on the website. It was done when I was 22 years old and had not yet learned to paint. At the time I had done a series of Dia de los Muertos ( Day of the Dead ) themed drawing similiar to this with heavy inspiration drawn from the engravings of the mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada. This is my favorite from this era. The limitations of using only pens to create the illusion of space is a fun task to undertake. Its easy to go too far and have an unfixable mess. but when it works out it can be very rewarding. I suppose sometimes less is more.
