¡Colores!; 207; Catalina Delgado-Trunk, Brandon Maldonado, Arthur Lopez

>>THIS TIME, ON COLORES! ALBUQUERQUE PAPEL PICADO ARTIST CATALINA DELGADO TRUNK EXPLORES MYTHOLIGIES FROM PRE-COLOMBIAN MEXICO. >>Folk art, in whatever discipline is expressed, is constantly evolving. It's an expression of a particular people. >>NEW MEXICO PAINTER BRANDON MALDONADO SEES HALLOWEEN AND DIA DE LOS MUERTOS SHARING A COMMON THEME. >>When we see things dying in Fall it makes sense that we celebrate death and we affirm that as a part of life. >>SANTA FE SANTERO ARTHUR LOPEZ USES TRADITIONAL ICONOGRAPHY IN A CONTEMPORARY WAY. >>In New Mexico especially, you have imagery and patronages that are a little bit different from what they are traditionally known for. >>IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES!

CATALINA DELGADO TRUNK SHARES HER INSPIRATION. >>Catalina Delgado Trunk: We all come here and we're all asking the same questions. in the world are we here? Where are we going? and every civilization and every culture and group has to answer those questions themselves because it gives them a meaning to their own personal life. Myth answers these questions and it's very, very, powerful in every culture. [Music] I live between two worlds,

felt like I didn't have a sense of place and a sense of identity. All Immigrants come with a basket and there are three things in that basket that we all bring into the country, and that's And I felt well I'm going to have to make use of my three seeds. I found that the easiest way for me was through my artwork,particularly with oral stories. [Music] I am a folk artist, I work 'papel picado' which is cut paper and it's called 'papel cortado' or 'papel picado' either way it has a very long history. You have to remember folk art in whatever discipline is constantly

evolving. It's an expression of a particular people of who they are, their identity. [Music] As you search for identity you search for a sense of place, you obviously go back to your past. Whatis it that you heard? What is it that you learned as a child? So you have to dig into the memory, and that's what I started doing? And some of the myths, I knew them kind of halfway, so I did a lot of research on them as you can see I have an awful lot of books, I do a lot of reading - you know. Ikeep going back to Mexico City and exploring and I'm

concentrated on one particular of Mexico City, these are the areas that really stick to the old tradition. I'm not an Anthropologist, I'm not an Archeologists I just learned a lot of this stuff through osmosis when I was growing up, family stories, oral history from neighbors. Mainly listening to them makes me remember a lot of what I was. I was exposed a lot to the codices, the codices were the books written in pre-Colombian Mesoamerica, I think there was only about 22 that survived, they are mostly in Europe. And I have a reproduction of about just about all of them. They're pictographs

it's not writing I've always been very attracted to them and growing up in the culture that I did you're surrounded by all of these symbols. [Music] A symbol of a Jaguar A symbol of a Jaguar to the Sun god as an eagle

and you carried the Sun from dawn until noon. Then you'd come back as a hummingbird in the afternoon and you carried messages. If you died in childbirth you also joined the Sun and carried the Sun from Noon until sunset and in the morning you'd come back as a butterfly, a monarch butterfly to bring the hearts of the warriors to the Sun. Children that have died before the age of five went to the land of the nurse maid tree which was a big tree that dripped milk and the little children would be restored back to health with this milk. And if you died of old age or another disease or whatever you went to Mictlan, the land of Mictlantecuhtli, the lord of the underworld, and it took you four years to get here, you had to go through nine different obstacles, and it was in those four years that families were duty bound to give you the food and the tools necessary to reach the Mictlan. That's your roots of Dia Los Muertos Art is a very strong medium of universal communication, when you start seeing the humanity of us here in this little planet all

together, we all have different life experiences and you share them, then we have a greater chance of understanding; how else are we ever going to get along the whole point of it for me not some exhibit it in some gallery, reaching out to people building bridges and crossing those bridges very important to me. >>BRANDON MALDONADO SHARES OLD >>BM: Anybody who has a chance

to go into like an old church can see the power that art has and the door to the mystery of things. >>HB: In your work there is a lot of mythology and iconology, where does that culture and how or why do you use it so prevalent in your work >>BM: There is a big need for the inner part of life to be spoken to. You go to school and you learnthe outer, the scholarship, but it's the struggle the path, the internal path that all mankind experiences that we need a guide and the myths are guides. I tried to paint in a way that's vague to where it says more about the viewer than the artist. There's something that is speaks to about your ownpotential

and myths have a valid place in the world today. You look at movies today like Star Wars and the Matrix and even though it's a fantasy world there are some truths in it, there's the question of the paths we should all follow. That are being spoken to. >>HB: When I think of mythology I think of the past and this kind of contemporization of it whether it's in your work or in a George Lucas film as a way to kind of bring those stories into the present. Would you agree? >>BM: I agree, there are some works I have done specifically that I am taking the mythological themefrom possibly a Christian painting, there's one example the Pieta where they are taking Christ off the cross and holding him. And taking that out of context and putting just a random girl being held up by butterflies, people can see it fresh. I am not reinvent mythology just trying to have people have

a fresh experience that can hopefully speak to our times and relate to people of our day the wayit worked for people in the past. >>HB: Can you help us understand, meaning me and the viewers, the very different context of Dia De La Muertos and Halloween? >>BM: Coincidently they fall upon the same time. If you really look at it it's not a coincidence at all. We have to put ourselves in accord with the cosmos and we've been trying to do this. We have constellations with names of people and human forms that we see in them. Every year as the earth revolves around the sun and we experiences different seasons and fall is the season of death; things are dying. We have to put our microcosmic life in accord with the macrocosmic universe. When we see things dying in fall it makes sense that we celebrate

death and we affirm that as a part of life. You can deny death as something that never happens but being that we have to experience annually it's important to celebrate it. My biggest hero, Joseph Campbell studied mythology and he's the one that brought this to my attention. And He's the one that talks about the hero who enters the woods and entersto finally confront the creature that rules the woods and it's a big fear that he's had and when hefinally confronts that creature and at the moment of slaying the creature and ending his life he gets a sense of compassion for the creature. Why is that? Because he sees the importance that the creature has in the ecosystem of the place, he has a role. So he befriends the creature instead and he'slike you are the protector of the dark woods and you are working

for me and when you do that, when you affirm the thing you fear you give it its place. You don't have to destroy it. I think that's what the day of the dead celebration helps us do, is affirm death as a necessary part of life that we all must I think in general the American view of Halloween is kind of meant to be a scary day. Fearful, frightful, but in Mexico, you go deep into Mexico where the indigenous people who are rooted in Aztec culture are you look at what they are doing for day of the dead and its more of a solemn day. It's a day to celebrate the loved ones that have passed and to keep their memory alive. There's an interesting story that

I was once told the day of the dead was to keep the third death from happening. So whatare the first two deaths? The first death your heart stops beating, your brain, that's the first death. The second death would be dust to dust. Your bodies gone, completely, returned to earth. The Third death being the death of the memory. You can't prevent the first two deaths from happening but the third death, you can keep someone's memory alive. Rituals are enactments of myths, so the ritualsis what helps you put your lives in accord with your belief system and although there is a solemn aspect to day of the dead, it could be mourning somebody that you lost a year ago there's also that other side where they have parades where they mock death you know where they wear masks. It's a big celebration of life.

Because what would life be The role or the artist has always been to inform humanity of things that we will experience, things we have experienced, help us relate. I'm a big fan of music and there's times I've been down and outand I can put on a song and it's by best friend. That's very important for us to be able to feel oneness with each other. You can feel alone and look at a piece of art or hear a song and it comfortsyou, I think that's the basic role of art to help us make sense the world around us and help us justify the feelings that

we're having. >>SANTA FE SANTERO ARTHUR LOPEZ SHARES HIS INSPIRATION. >>The narrative is very important. I love telling important. I love telling a story, it's part

of a culture. I mean you look at past generations and one of the ways you find out about a culture is through their art. As a child we would do these pilgrimages to the Santuario de Chimayo and Chimayo, New Mexico and my grandmother would go take us to purchase these baby shoes and I'd be thinking "what the heck are these baby shoes for?" and she said they are for the Santo Nino and I'd say "OK, whatever" and we'd drive down the Sangre de Cristos down to Chimayo through the windy road and go into the little Capilla de San Antonio de Atocha. But on the way down as we were driving there, my grandmother would tell us the story, you know, It was said there was this Santo Nino and he would roam the countryside at night and he would help stranded travelers and he would help people that were in need. In doing so, he would wear out his shoes, so to pay respect and honor to him, we need and present them to him. And part of that was being

that the Santo Nino is the patron saint of travelers, you know every vehicle that we had had a saint, whether it be Santo Nino de Atocha, patron saint of travelers or Saint Christopher, or a sacred heart of Jesus there on the dashboard. So the piece that I did, El Santo Nino del Camino" is tradition and that memory that I had, being that it's the patron saint of travelers and always shown in vehicles in New Mexico, it's kind of this candy-apple red low-rider with pin-striping and chrome around it and its got diamond tuck interior surrounded by it, you know the Santa Nino is kind of placed on this dashboard kind of altar with the winding roads of Chimayo in the front and a rear view mirror showing the winding road behind you. It's kind of that honor of your past and your present so you have something to look forward to and move on with. In New Mexico especially, you have imagery

and patronages that are a little bit different maybe from what they are traditionally known for. I'll take traditional iconography and modernize it. I try to honor these saints in these pieces by recreating it more appealing almost to a younger generation. 'Wall Bangin' San Lucas' is one that I have created that's more contemporary but it has a lot of the same iconography that's shown with San Lucas traditionally. San Lucas is the patron saint of artists and he's shown painting the Virgin Mary on a canvas and the baby Jesus and they're sitting there in a renaissance periodlook. With mine, I used San Lucas as an artist but he's a spray painter. He tagged a wall and he did this mural of graffiti art of the Virgin Mary. So all of the iconography is still there but now he is the patron saint of graffiti artists. to have some sort of a meaning

for me or I don't want to create it. Santa Fe, New Mexico was named after Saint Frances. Originally it was, La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis. And you know that was the Spanish name for it given back in the 1600's, whenever the city was founded. Each Saint and image has the saint of Santa Fe as well as the patron saint of New Mexico, as well as the patron saint of animals. And being that, the piece that I have here isSan Francisco on a roadrunner, being that he was the patron saint it made sense to put it with the state bird which was the roadrunner and it also had a spiritual significance being that their feet have an X pattern so it was believed that bad spirits could not find them and locate them because you couldn't tell if they were coming or going as well as they are one ofthe

only animals, or birds that can kill rattlesnakes. Snakes are also an evil omen or an evil spirit being from Adam and Eve and the snake that tempted her. Younger, growing up, I would go to church with my grandmother she was part of the Franciscan order at Saint Francis of Asis. And, to mass early enough so that we could pray the rosary cause they would have a rosary that happened maybe a halfan hour or hour before mass. And I hated it. You know we'd have to go there, pray the rosary and then spend another half-hour in mass after that. I had that spiritual link the whole time but I was always afraid of the imagery that was there. You know I'd look at it and see the blood coming down from the Christ. Doing the saints now, I started to appreciate them more as an art form and an artwork.Now I can go

into church and look at the Christ and see the blood coming down and not look at it somuch as this bloody image but more as iconography and as design features, especially in New done, a lot of it looks like design elements on a piece and you know I can appreciate more who created that. I don't want to be known as a follower he has given me and learned has their own story, all I'm doing it is retelling it. I retell it in a way that

makes sense to me and how I'm able to interpret it. I communicate through my work and let it speak for itself.