Enrique Ferreol

Bio-click here

Growing up in Mexico you can't escape its rich history and tradition, particularly the manifestations of people's devotions combined. Syncretic altars containing images of the Virgin Mary together with famous wrestlers, family photos, "offerings" and Christmas lights were not hard to find in places like auto body shops or markets. I'm deeply inspired by this.

In my explorations of visual expression I found that altars, as a surface, serve very well the artistic purpose of pointing something out, in a specific way, for a specific reason. A meaningful thing in a sacred space. I placed objects, found and created, in altars as I would spread paint on a canvas, or graphite on paper. Using text as texture some times, or to compliment the visual image with written language, or both.

For many years I dissected existing religious images and mixed them with my personal iconography. In the last series of altars I produced, on view here, I used the ubiquitous icon of the human heart, appropriated it, and expressed with it what my own heart was going through during the process of immigrating to Canada.

When a friend of mine, an artist from Arizona, who loves Mexico and its culture, learned that I had moved to Canada, he couldn't believe it. -What are you doing there, in the snow and cold? He asked. -What is your Jaguar heart doing in the land of Bears? -Are you in love? He asked. I was.

So, I created an altar portraying my jaguar heart inthe land of bears and snow.

What is Your Jaguar Heart