Red Queen Exhibition opens

When: May 27, 2006 - September 24, 2006
Where: Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Arts, Scottsdale,
Arizona
What:
Ricardo Mazal: La Tumba de la Reina Roja
from Reality to Abstraction

During routine archeological excavations in Palenque, Mexico, in
1994, workers found a pre-Columbian tomb and, within, the mummified
remains of a woman. The coffin was carved from a single slab of
limestone, embellished with jewels, gold and jade. Her remains were
accompanied by masks, necklaces, earrings and bracelets and—like the
area around the tomb—covered blanketed in cinnabar, a rich red
pigment. The Red Queen, who dates from ca. 600 A.D., is one of the
most important Mayan discoveries in decades.

Captivated by the first photos he saw of The Red Queen, Ricardo
Mazal, an accomplished abstract painter, was fascinated by the deep
red cinnabar that cloaked the Red Queen in her tomb. He traveled to
Palenque in 2002 to do in-depth research and to photograph the site
and its surrounding jungle environs. Struck by similarities these
digital images had to the forms in his previous paintings and
drawings, Mazal began to digitally transform the photographs to bring
them closer to abstraction, eventually translating these images into
dynamic abstract paintings.

Ricardo Mazal: La Tumba de la Reina Roja, from Reality to Abstraction
includes photographs, monotype studies, finished paintings and a
video documenting his processes. In these works, Mazal explores the
three "zones" of experience with pre-Columbian culture and
spirituality: the jungle, the stones and the tomb. As he immersed
himself in the mystical past of the Red Queen, Mazal was reconnected
with his Mexican heritage and embarked upon a narrative of personal
discovery that allowed him to explore universal, age old questions of
power, fame and mortality.

Organized by independent curator Elizabeth Ferrer in close
collaboration with the artist and SMoCA. Versions of the project were
shown at the Center of Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and
the esteemed National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City, in 2004
and 2005. Sponsored locally by the SMoCA Salon. Educational programs
sponsored in part by Willie Joffroy.