Alejandro Santiago
Alejandro Santiago
Heaven, Earth, Hell
cochineal on amate paper
1991
47” x 32” (120cm x 81cm)
Exhibitions:
San Francisco, California, The Mexican Museum, Works on Paper from Diego Rivera to Alejandro Santiago, 2017
Images
Overview
Here we have an early work by Alejandro Santiago, a cochineal on amate paper from 1991.
The painting is broken into three sections, the top, middle and bottom, all of these sections together tell the story of heaven, earth and hell.
The top section depicts a hand figure with two large eyes, possibly representing a god or deity that is all-knowing or all-seeing.
In the middle, there is a birthing figure, indicative of earth and the cycle of life and death.
Finally, the bottom of the painting depicts a skull, representing death, hell or the underworld.
All of the pigment used in this painting is cochineal. Cochineal is a red/purple pigment made from the blood of small beetles that often live on cacti.
As opposed to using canvas or a paper made in a factory, Santiago used amate paper, a natural paper made by stripping bark from a tree, boiling it in water and laying it flat.
View more work by Alejandro Santiago.