M@donnas: Contemporary Re-interpretations of the image of Mary

 Rainbow Madonna (2013)
30" x 30" Oil on Canvas
Patrick McGrath Muñiz

After completing "Devocionales" Neo Colonial Retablos from an Archetypal Perspective", currently on display at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Mesa, Arizona, I started a new project  titled "M@donnas: Contemporary Re-interpretations of the image of Mary". If I consider "Devocionales" to be like an archetypal jigsaw puzzle, "Madonnas" would the creative exploration of one of the pieces from the puzzle. She is the daughter of "Devocionales" for it was the project I had in mind and looked forward to work on while I painted the retablos for "Devocionales". Derived specifically from the piece "Virgen de las Revelaciones" this work is vividly colored and a lighter approach to one of the many archetypes I worked with in the previous project, that is the archetype of the Mother and Child. From Mother Earth, to Mother Celebrity Diva, the work explores different relationships between various contemporary issues affecting our world  and reshaping the meaning of the Mother and Child archetype.

Maria Mundi (2013)

35" x 50" Oil on Canvas

Patrick McGrath Muñiz

The present collection of oil paintings on canvas and wood are inspired by the sacred imagery of the Virgin Mary from Spanish Colonial art. By recontextualizing colonial iconography, the work responds to some of the current global and Neo-colonial issues that affect the Americas today. The depictions of contemporary “Madonnas” are visited by characters and narratives that derive from Pop culture, consumerism, Hollywood and the Mass Media Apparatus. These interventions reflect on how the environment, economy and culture of former colonies have become heavily influenced and indoctrinated by new colonial powers, large trans-national corporations and the global market economy. As in most of my work, I appropriate past propaganda tactics and painting devices from the time of the conquest and colonization of the Americas in order to provide historical continuity and a link between the Colonial and the Neo-colonial narratives. Even though one might sense the implied negative effects, the narratives inhabited by baby angels, animals and other fictional characters, project a light of satire, charm and even optimism onto the ecological and socio-cultural issues in question.

Nuestra Señora Protectora del Libre Comercio (2013)
48" x 48" Oil on Canvas
Patrick McGrath Muñiz

This collection will be on display at La Antigua Galeria de Arte  4ta Calle Oriente #15, 03001, Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez. The Opening will be on November 9th, 2013 at 4 p.m.

For more information visit the gallery website or the facebook event.
To see more of my recent work you can also visit Jane Sauer Gallery, in Santa Fe, NM.