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"Las Calaveras: Looking At Ingrid's Calaveras Series" | by Marilee Veniegas

Looking at Ingrid's "Calavera Zapata" by shows her understanding of subject is this figure a Bandido? Is he a Revolutionary? Despite the uniformity of her skeletal figures, each of her "figuras" maintain their original vestages of humanity. Much like the tradition of the Mexican Dia de los Muertos figures, the skeletons have iconic representations of their former selves, in this case, Zapata's gun and hat.

The Mexican culture like many Latin American countries has a kindred relationship with the dead. Death itself and those in the spiritual world.

Skeletons can be a serious icon of death, but in the Mexican heritage imbue them with humor and humanity. Ingrid also give her skeletal figures that same human connection.

Her prints and paintings of Calaveras also draws from a rich wealth of Mexican painters like Jose Guadalupe Posada who too used cultural references of the skeleton in his paintings.

The viewer of "Calavera Zapata," sees the figure possesses the dichotomy of a sinister and veiled knowledged. He is dead, yet carries the implements of death: the bullets and gun. And background of red dappled background itself serves as a vanitas cue.

Her dabbled painstrokes on the sombrero enhances the paper's texture showing a difference between the ephemeral and smoothness of the paper. Her El Greco-esque clouded backgrounds is also a consistent in her Calaveras series. The backgrounds fades into a the pages border two thirds down on the piece, but is rather more dappled as if she's also referencing the painting "Pancho Villa, dead and alive."

The Calaveras pieces are primarily of a medium composition size. Most measuring approximately 16"x20". Much like the cultural depictions of ancestors and saints, the artist's pieces are a portable size.

In her Calaveras series, Ingrid shows a clear kinship with the Mexican tradition of depicting the skeletal form. Her work shows both humor and feeing of humanity

-- when looking at a number of them together can imagine them as a grouping of family portraits.

for more on Ingrid's Calavera's series, also see the article "Mi Familia de Calaveras," "My Family of Calaveras."

article published 08.2006 article last updated 06.30.2007

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* Ingrid's work has been shown with the Casa de Artes, a Seattle based Latino arts collective who hosts an annual Dia de los Muertos fine art exhibit. at the Seattle Center. In April 2007, her Calaveras series was featured in the "Dia Del Amor y Las Perdidas" group show at the La Famila Gallery. The show featured three upcoming Latina artists.

-- LAS CALAVERAS ARTICLE BY M. VENIEGAS

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