Art works in honor of Dia de Los Muertos should emphaaize
the spiritual over the commercial. Much of the art work I’m seeing around town
is much more commercial than it should be. It is dead art. Caterinas, painted skulls, and
skeletons abound. Is this respectful to the sacred tradition of the holiday?
Families get together to make flowers and use them to adorn altars, they gather
at home or at el cementerio to
remember their departed loved ones, they DO NOT dance around with someone
dressed up as a Catrina, and to multiply these Catrina figures (a skeleton
dolled up as a tawdry female, for those who don’t know) does a terrible disservice
to the spiritual beliefs of the occasion. You might even go as far as to call
it sacrilegious. As art in honor of the day, it is all rather tasteless.
Other subjects related to the holiday are more imaginative
and meaningful. Take, for example, my painting “Making Flowers for the Day of
the Dead” (see below). I painted this while I was still living in Zacatecas, a
city, I am happy to say, that has eschewed or at least avoided the
commercialism of San Miguel in this regard. The image is of three women, an old
woman and her grandaughters, making flowers to be used on an altar. The old
woman looks directly at the viewer because she is prepared for and willing to
face Death, who is not in the picture but should be understood to be standing
before the group. The two younger women look askance, over their shoulders
because they sense the presence of Death but are not ready or willing to face
him – it is not their time.
“Making
Flowers for the Day of the Dead”
