Codex: Pedro Reyes

Luisa Strina is happy to present Mexican artist Pedro Reyes’ fourth show with the gallery, this time expanding his practice in an exhibit that not only includes his outstanding sculpture, but a new group of paintings on Amate paper.

For Codex, Reyes has been influenced by his direct surroundings in the neighborhood of Coyoacán, located in the south of Mexico City, where both pre-columbian, colonial and modern elements are intertwined throughout a cultural landscape that has assimilated both Mexican and European symbols.

Coyoacán is surrounded by volcanoes that have erupted in different moments in history, leading to the formation of El Pedregal, used in the past as a quarry. Reyes favors the use of volcanic stone — specially red tezontle — as seen in Cë Coatl, a vertical totem that represents an abstract allegory of a snake, crowned by a rattle and facing downwards, in a series of geometric elements that remind us of abstract geometry present in modern art.

Carved in chiluca stone, Ángel features a winged figure, a piece where the artist channels references introduced to our continent with the arrival of Christian iconography 500 years ago and that continues to be present in the art of the Americas.

For Yollotl — carved in black basalt — Reyes created a standing pole crowned by a heart, an image taken from 16th century monasteries, where the texture of the chisel rock brings a strong sense of materiality.

Another stone carving made in jadeite — a luscious green stone from Guatemala deeply cherished by the Mayans — conveys an abstract form, still vaguely anthropomorphic, that evokes the silhouettes of ancient goddesses. Mandorla refers to the almond shaped halo that can be often found in paintings of Madonnas as well as other ancient depictions of fertility.

Along with the sculptural work, Codex presents a set of Amate paper paintings, a material that has continued to be produced with the same technique by artisans from San Pablito Pahuatlán, Puebla, since pre-columbian times. Amate was used for codexes that were painted by tlacuilos — a name given to artists which meant simultaneously painter and writer — where testimonies were recorded through the use of pictograms, each one representing a different concept. One of these symbols can be found in Huei Calli, where the icon for house is repeated three times on top of the other in a geometric arrangement that reminds us both of 20th century concrete art and Mexican style. 

Cempohualli, Nahuatl name for twenty, is here represented as two Xs standing above the other, becoming a syncretism of Latin and Nahuatl numerals. For Eclipse, the artist shows a gradual progression of color and shape in a mathematical composition. These paintings offer a bold view from afar and presence on an architectural scale, as well as a deep texture when observed up close.