The idea for Cholo and Van with Popo and Ixta stems from the Mexican mythological characters Popocatepetl and Ixtacihuatl and also alludes to other classical sources such as Romeo and Juliet. It captures Popo as he is holding the dead Ixta; both of them, according to mythology, will be transformed into the twin volcanoes that dominate the central Mexican tableland (here in the background). The images of the eagle, cactus, and snake evoke both Native American and Southwestern mythology and imagery. This vignette serves as an allegory for the deep sense of loss felt by Hispanics, both in Mexico and the United States, resulting from the destruction of their culture by outside forces.
Entre la Puta y la Muerte is a work in which death is assigned a gender and identity: that of a woman. Placed between and supported by the figures of death and a prostitute, an old man engages in a dynamic danse macabre, or dance of death. Jiménez's commentary on mortality is at once grim and erotic, evocative of both the inevitability of death and the ephemeral, transitory nature of life.
About Segura Publishing Co.
Lot 85
Entre la Puta y la Muerte/
Between the Whore and Death
Lithograph
33" x 28"
Estimated Price:
$900 -1100
