#tenochtitlan
This is my oil painting of Tonalco Tlaltecuhtli, the Earth during the dry season.
Tlaltecuhtli is the Earth Lord and the Earth Lady. She is the Earth itself; Her elbows, breasts, and belly are mountains, Her navel, the hollow of Her throat, the folds that wrap across Her stomach are valleys, and Her mouth and womb caves, entrances by which to enter her body. She is all abundance and all life, but likewise, She is the tomb who shall swallow us all in the end. We do not have four seasons in Mesoamerica, but rather two, Xopan or rainy season, and Tonalco or dry season. As Tonalco Tlaltecuhtli, Her body is painted yellow, to represent the yellow grass of Winter. She is dry, tired, and lacks the energy for growth and life.
I’ll be explaining more details about this painting in other posts!
Tlaltecuhtli will be on display at my upcoming show at Art Bug Gallery in LA! You can also find Her as a print in my Etsy store! Click here!
This painting is part of the story of the creation of the Fifth Sun, which is the sun under which we live. The Lord of Snails and Nanahuatzin, the Syphilitic Lord, leapt into the Spirit Fire. The Lord of Snails grew afraid when he felt the extreme heat of the Spirit Fire, and held back. Nanahuatzin, however, fearlessly went forward and leapt into the heart of the Spirit Fire. The Lord of Snails, when he saw this, felt ashamed, and leapt also into the Spirit Fire, but even then, because of his cowardice, he leapt only into its coals and ashes, where he too was consumed by the fire. In honor of the sacrifices of the two Teteo, the jaguar and the eagle leapt over the flame, thereby proving their bravery and acquiring their stripes and spots from the smoky ashes of the fire. The sacrificed Teteo arose in the East as two great suns. The gathered Teteo threw a rabbit in the face of the Lord of Snails, thus dimming his brilliance and transforming him into the Moon.
This painting will be on display at Art Bug Gallery! You can also find it as a print in my Etsy store! Click here!
Ometeotl, Dual Divinity, is Lord and Lady of Existence. They are composed of Ometecuhtli, Dual Lord, and Omecihuatl, Dual Lady, and Their spirit dwells within all creatures. This is why everything that exists contains a feminine and a masculine part, cold and warm, nocturnal and diurnal, wet and dry. Ometeotl is an entity so complex that They can only be represented metaphorically in the shape of a turquoise board.
My original painting of Ometeotl is on display at the Art Bug Gallery. Saturday is the last day to visit my show!
Largest Aztec temple was decorated with over 100 starfish
“The last well-preserved layer of the temple was the one Ahuizotl ordered built in 1487. And that’s where archaeologists discovered the galaxy of starfish that the Aztec priests had once offered to Huitzilopochtli.”
Tenochtitlan
July 1st 1530. Cortés and his men escape from Tenochtitlan, city of the Aztecs, only the ones who discarded the gold made it to the boats.
Tenochtitlan by Darío Mekler
July 1st 1530. Cortés and his men escape from Tenochtitlan, city of the Aztecs, only the ones who discarded the gold made it to the boats.
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