This is a digitized image. The original is two feet high and three feet wide. Up close the layering of various colors of ink is visible. The image is printed on heavy weight paper and has a matte finish.

CONDITION: What can I determine about the condition of the artwork?

The artwork is in excellent condition.

SUBJECT MATTER: What can I determine about what the artwork depicts, if anything?

The image shows a skeleton mariachi band viewed from just above the knees. The skeletons are playing stringed guitar-like instruments. The skeletal forms fan out from their legs upward. All the skeletons are standing in a frontal position. Only the right arms of the skeletons are strumming their instruments. There are no visible left arms.

All the skeletons have large, thick, black mustaches. They also have black crosses on their foreheads. The skeletons have large black eye holes, and nose holes. The small black squares either connote teeth or a lack thereof. All the skeletons wear stylized, decorated, colorful sombreros. In the background, are numerous vines leading upwards with a multitude of colorful flowers.

Printmaking Lesson Index

TOOLS, MATERIALS, AND PROCESSES: What can I learn about how the artwork was made? Eduardo Oropeza's print is a silkscreen. It is one print from an edition of 72. Silkscreen prints are made with a piece of fine silk stretched inside a frame. The artist blocks the holes in the fabric in some areas with a coating or film. The printer (in this case, Oscar Duardo) places a paper under the screen and pulls a squeegee of ink over the screen, forcing ink through the unblocked areas onto the paper below. The image of a silkscreen print, unlike a relief print, is not reversed. To make multicolored silkscreen prints, the artist must prepare a separate screen for each color and print one piece of paper with each separate color. Registration is the name for the process of lining up each screen so that it fits exactly in the same spot on the paper as the other screens.

Sensory Lesson Index

SENSORY ELEMENTS: What visual elements do I see? The colors in this print are bright and festive. Light blues, turquoise, dark and light greens, hot pinks, purples, reds, oranges, and bright yellows all contribute to the richness of the total image. Black and white are used to form the skeleton figures. Delicate black lines define the bones. Organic shapes are used throughout the print. Intricate patterns are used in the design of the sombreros. No two sombreros are alike. Serpentine floral shapes form the background.

FORMAL ORGANIZATION: How do the elements in the artwork work together?

The figures radiate from the center bottom. The black negative shapes on the bottom anchor the figures, while the colors on the top draw the viewer upward, leading to an explosion of color. Repeated elements, such as the ribs and the repeated black eye circles, add a sense of movement and activity. The alternation of black, negative shapes with white, positive shapes creates rhythm. Rhythm is further enhanced by the concentric arches of gold guitars, horizontal arms, the necks of the guitars, the skeleton heads, and their sombreros. There is an overall rhythmic pattern created by the interplay of black/white and the brilliant colors.

 

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