Saturday, December 3, 2011

"San Calaca" Skull

This painted shelf unit is from Enrique Camacho so I'll let him tell you more...

"This is a painting I created for Houston's Lawndale Art Center silent auction, their biggest fundraiser every year. I wanted to combine skeletons and origami which I like very much. So I created a traditionally composed painting of a saint "San Calaca", or "Saint Calaca". The halo is painted as 'papel picado' (punched paper) which is used often in Mexican celebrations such as weddings and Day of the Dead. The skeleton is holding a paper crane, the most recognizable origami animal I could think of. In the complete art project, I created shelves to hold 6 origami animal figures, with skeletons painted on them. I wanted to bring the subject matter of the main painting into a more tangible setting, so that the painted scene and our own world would seem more connected."



This is a wonderful painting for a good cause, but I'm just as excited about this being used as a functional piece for displaying the origami skeleton art. Those little bony critters are complimentary to the skeleton saint. Almost like a blessing for the animals who have past. This is impressive work, Enrique. Thanks for sharing it.

1 comment:

Jean said...

I have the good fortune to have bought this piece in Lawndale Art Center's Day of the Dead Benefit. I'm delighted to see it here.