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Lot Essay
*This painting is sold to benefit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles. Accordingly, this lot may be exempt from sales tax as set forth in the Sales Tax Notice at the back of this catalogue.
The lengthy and rich dialogue Rufino Tamayo established with pre-Columbian Mexican art, especially sculpture, which he alluded to during his entire artistic career, seems to crystallize in this mysteriously silent painting.
In a narrow space, we find the powerful presence of a figure whose solemn isolation seems to endow it with a sacred meaning. Tamayo references a pre-Columbian deity that synthesizes into a lean structure, some of the architectural elements of that past, such as the volcanic rock column known in Mexico as basalt. El enclaustrado (or The cloistered one) seems to grow within a sacred space that is evoked by the rich texture that covers the walls helping to create a mysterious and impregnable aura. Tamayo's use of the vital pink color for the figure, dissociates him completely from any "archaeologizing."
The presence of the monolith seems to light up the entire space, although there are additional light shafts from different areas of the cloistered space, which may allude to the peculiar illumination systems present in Maya religious architecture. According to Raquel Tibol, these are "synthetic representations of Quetzalcóatl, the plumed serpent, a solar deity and giver of life," which, circulates along the walls and is projected onto the floor as a result of the sun's movement. The placement of the floor also recalls the platforms in the ancient ceremonial city of Teotihuacan, which at the time of the city's splendor, were used to support buildings used for various functions or activities.
The work could also suggest--especially given Tamayo's humanism--the isolation of contemporary man. Furthermore, we may assume Tamayo may have confined his character to a remote past, even as the work reveals something indescribably alive and unexpected.
Juan Carlos Pereda, Mexico City, 2007
The lengthy and rich dialogue Rufino Tamayo established with pre-Columbian Mexican art, especially sculpture, which he alluded to during his entire artistic career, seems to crystallize in this mysteriously silent painting.
In a narrow space, we find the powerful presence of a figure whose solemn isolation seems to endow it with a sacred meaning. Tamayo references a pre-Columbian deity that synthesizes into a lean structure, some of the architectural elements of that past, such as the volcanic rock column known in Mexico as basalt. El enclaustrado (or The cloistered one) seems to grow within a sacred space that is evoked by the rich texture that covers the walls helping to create a mysterious and impregnable aura. Tamayo's use of the vital pink color for the figure, dissociates him completely from any "archaeologizing."
The presence of the monolith seems to light up the entire space, although there are additional light shafts from different areas of the cloistered space, which may allude to the peculiar illumination systems present in Maya religious architecture. According to Raquel Tibol, these are "synthetic representations of Quetzalcóatl, the plumed serpent, a solar deity and giver of life," which, circulates along the walls and is projected onto the floor as a result of the sun's movement. The placement of the floor also recalls the platforms in the ancient ceremonial city of Teotihuacan, which at the time of the city's splendor, were used to support buildings used for various functions or activities.
The work could also suggest--especially given Tamayo's humanism--the isolation of contemporary man. Furthermore, we may assume Tamayo may have confined his character to a remote past, even as the work reveals something indescribably alive and unexpected.
Juan Carlos Pereda, Mexico City, 2007