29.7 cm x 42 cm – Oil pastels over aquarelle paper
This series of four oil pastel paintings—La danza de los toritos (The Dance of the Little Bulls), El baile del venado (The Dance of the Deer), La danza de los micos (The Dance of the Monkeys), and La danza de los tecuanes (The Dance of the Jaguars)—comprises a first edition of works where I explore the physical color of the oil pastel pigment in dialogue with the deep chromatic history of traditional dances in Guatemala and Mesoamerica.
These four paintings reflect my fascination with the use of color; an exploration that is both aesthetic and spiritual, sparked by the combination of different hues, saturations, and properties that create an impact through their very nature. This influence is present not only in art but in everyday life. The desire to work with color led me to look into the depths of my country and its ancestral cultures. This fascination has always been there, practically tied to the history of Guatemala: for centuries, the Mayan peoples have filled their homes, streets, and towns with color. The colors were already there.
In this series, I explored the use of color in two distinct ways. First, through the characters themselves, who wear the traditional attire of the dance. Second, through the backgrounds, which are a play of colors where I delicately balance combinations of strokes and shapes. These forms do not represent something “real” in a literal sense; instead, they evoke the atmosphere I feel while creating the work, adding a fantastic layer that mirrors the history they represent.
The Dances:
- La danza del torito (The Dance of the Little Bulls): Originating in the 17th century, this is a colonial satire telling the story of an estate foreman who is killed by a bull after forbidding his cowboys from dealing with it, representing the tension between social classes and mestizaje (cultural blending).
- El baile del venado (The Dance of the Deer): An ancestral hunting ritual that honors the sacred relationship between humans and nature, using the story to ask permission from the spirits of the forest before the hunt.
- La danza de los tecuanes (The Dance of the Jaguars): This represents the communal union of diverse groups to protect their livestock from the jaguar (the “tecuan”), using color and humor to celebrate the triumph of the collective over natural threats.
- La danza de los micos (The Dance of the Monkeys): This dance has deep pre-Hispanic roots linked to the Popol Vuh, where monkeys represent the brothers of the Hero Twins who were transformed as a punishment, symbolizing spiritual connection and the creation of man.