Mexico City-based artist Omar Mendoza is breathing new life into ancient indigenous practices through his latest series of paintings titled "Serpiente Solar Noche Obsidiana" (Solar Serpent Obsidian Night), currently on display at Povos gallery. The artist creates his works using natural pigments extracted from native plants, tree bark, and flowers collected from his father's hometown, supplemented with additional pigments sourced from local markets. This artistic practice represents both a continuation of ancestral knowledge and a symbolic form of cultural resistance against historical threats to traditional methods.
The extraction of dyes from organic sources has deep roots in various cultures across the historical Mesoamerican region, with artists and craftsmen utilizing these natural pigments since ancient times. However, many traditional practices, including pigment harvesting, have faced significant challenges from external factors such as colonialism. Despite these pressures, contemporary artists like Mendoza continue to preserve and revitalize these time-honored processes, ensuring their survival for future generations.
Mendoza's paintings feature an extensive palette of natural materials, including Mayan blue, Mayan green, indigo blue, Brazilian wood, Mexican honeysuckle, jonote, zacatlaxcalli, kina, charcoal, turmeric, beet, alder, obsidian, and beeswax, all applied to handmade cotton surfaces. His notable works in the series include "Noche obsidiana" (2025), "Espejo obsidiana" (2025), "Lluvia florida" (2025), "Serpiente de jade" (2025), "Eclipse" (2025), "Cantares" (2025), and "Cielo roto" (2025), each showcasing the rich variety of natural pigments and their unique visual properties.
Visually, Mendoza's compositions evoke cosmic power and sacred rhythm, connecting both celestial and earthly forces through carefully chosen motifs. His paintings feature stars, planetary objects, snakes, eagles, vines, and other symbolic elements that reflect his reach toward the sanctity of time-honored cultural wisdom. These images represent multitudes of intuition and insight, creating a visual language that speaks to both ancient traditions and contemporary artistic expression.
Curator Victoria Rivers provides insight into the artist's approach, explaining that "Omar Mendoza creates these works from a cosmovision in which everything is alive and in relationship: water, stone, plants, fire, night. In that web of sacred correspondences, painting becomes an act of reciprocity with the earth and its cycles." This philosophical foundation underlies the entire series, emphasizing the interconnectedness of all natural elements.
Symmetry plays a significant role in several of Mendoza's paintings, calling attention to the mirroring of two worlds and the balance between different realms of existence. The tactile washes of pink, blue, violet, and yellow atop hand-prepared canvases create sumptuous intertwinings of color that present a transcendent sense of harmony across the entire series. This harmonious quality reinforces the cyclical energy that courses through the works, reflecting natural rhythms and eternal patterns.
The "Serpiente Solar Noche Obsidiana" exhibition is scheduled to open on October 4 in Chicago, providing art enthusiasts with an opportunity to experience these unique works firsthand. For those interested in following Mendoza's artistic journey and seeing more of his work, the artist maintains an active presence on Instagram, where he shares insights into his creative process and showcases his ongoing exploration of natural pigments and indigenous artistic traditions.
