Legends

My series of oil and gold leaf panel paintings called Legends grew out of the profound impact that living for extended periods of time in two different foreign cultures has had on my life. The first is Chiapas, Mexico, from which I have taken as imagery the small, woolen dolls representing the Zapatista guerrilla warriors that Mayan women made in response to the indigenous uprising there of January, 1994. The ski-masked, gun-toting dolls depict Subcomandante Marcos, the uprising’s leader. These crudely made dolls are both intriguing and disturbing, combining elements of charm and threat. The second culture is Tuscany, Italy, from which I have taken as imagery the iconography of renaissance painting which often include the same kind of contrasts as the Zapatista dolls. They are beautiful and appealing while often depicting scenes of violence. 

In Legends the juxtaposition of guerilla dolls with religious imagery speaks to the uncomfortable alliance between war and religion which has been so common throughout history, our own times no exception, wars fought in the name of God. The juxtaposition of imagery from renaissance Europe and contemporary Latin America speaks more specifically to the conquest of the New World by the Old, the renaissance having produced both religious gold leaf panel painting and the conquistadores. The present-day Maya are inheritors of this legacy and centuries later are still struggling against its constraints and repression.