[Aztlan] Red Queen Exhibition opens

[michael ruggeri]

Ricardo Mazal: La Tumba de la Reina Roja
from Reality to Abstraction

During routine archeological excavations in Palenque, Mexico, in  
1994, workers found a pre-Columbian tomb and, within, the mummified  
remains of a woman. The coffin was carved from a single slab of  
limestone, embellished with jewels, gold and jade. Her remains were  
accompanied by masks, necklaces, earrings and bracelets and—like the  
area around the tomb—covered blanketed in cinnabar, a rich red  
pigment. The Red Queen, who dates from ca. 600 A.D., is one of the  
most important Mayan discoveries in decades.

Captivated by the first photos he saw of The Red Queen, Ricardo  
Mazal, an accomplished abstract painter, was fascinated by the deep  
red cinnabar that cloaked the Red Queen in her tomb. He traveled to  
Palenque in 2002 to do in-depth research and to photograph the site  
and its surrounding jungle environs. Struck by similarities these  
digital images had to the forms in his previous paintings and  
drawings, Mazal began to digitally transform the photographs to bring  
them closer to abstraction, eventually translating these images into  
dynamic abstract paintings.

Ricardo Mazal: La Tumba de la Reina Roja, from Reality to Abstraction  
includes photographs, monotype studies, finished paintings and a  
video documenting his processes. In these works, Mazal explores the  
three "zones" of experience with pre-Columbian culture and  
spirituality: the jungle, the stones and the tomb. As he immersed  
himself in the mystical past of the Red Queen, Mazal was reconnected  
with his Mexican heritage and embarked upon a narrative of personal  
discovery that allowed him to explore universal, age old questions of  
power, fame and mortality.

Organized by independent curator Elizabeth Ferrer in close  
collaboration with the artist and SMoCA. Versions of the project were  
shown at the Center of Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and  
the esteemed National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City, in 2004  
and 2005. Sponsored locally by the SMoCA Salon. Educational programs  
sponsored in part by Willie Joffroy.



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