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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Ritual del Animal @ Mira Gallery
Wednesday 28 July @ 17:02:52 |
 by Tom Schimmel
There are mild elements of Santeria present — leaves, rose petals, incense and small altars of personal nature. Everywhere I turn, there is a painting or a wood carving or a photograph that stares at me. There are a lot of voices in my head suddenly and they’re all asking the same question: How deep is your voodoo?
For the Ritual del Animal exhibit, eight Latino artists have been asked to connect with magic, myth and the supernatural. The exercise of the imagination is, at least in basic form, an exercise in divination.
 All the work has in some way found a connection with the ethereal mystery of existence. Like what happens when we die? Do you believe in angels? What do they look like? Are they always around us? There are takes on human aura informed by centuries of Latino history.
Some of the artists seem to have reached a seriously profound level of empathy with the spirit world. I visited a Santeria store in San Francisco last year and had a good look at what was available. There were some things in glass jars to suggest that people aren’t just fucking around with incense. Ritual del Animal is, to some degree, like a conjuring of Hades. Or rather, the art implies that, “Yes I have been to Hades, and here are some of my memories”.
This kind of thing dates back to the Aztecs and the Mayans, cultures that ritualized death so as to integrate it with life. The artists have a keen level of awareness regarding their own elasticity. Quantum physics suggests that what we perceive as matter is actually energy. Ritual del Animal is a clean and sweeping affirmation that it is possible to pierce layers of reality and gain some vision of the forces acting beyond us and through us. It’s tough writing for a gringo. I don’t practice Santeria and I ain’t got no crystal ball. The challenge lies in how to communicate this to post-modern America. Like what does the Underworld have to do with making money?
That part is actually the easiest thing to answer. We’re all gonna die and you can’t take your money with you. Doug Padilla’s triptych has mixed elements of pop-star headlines. It’s the newspaper clipping about Roy Orbison that gets me. The Underworld owns us. No matter what you do with your life, it’s where you come from and it’s where you’re headed back to when you’re done living. If you have a million dollars, “Death Angel” cheerily commands you to spend it all.
Ritual del Animal runs through Aug. 17. Mira Gallery, El Colegio, 4137 Bloomington Ave. S., Mpls. Wed. - Sat. 7-9 p.m.
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