Todos los templos
Francisco Muñoz
Tlaxcala, 1984.
Lives and works in Mexico City
Francisco Muñoz’ multidisciplinary practice encompasses sculpture, drawing, collage, painting, textiles, and installation. He studied at The National School of Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving “La Esmeralda” in Mexico City, and then at The National School of Fine Arts in Lyon, in a fellowship program. His work is rooted in the questioning and analysis of national identities, particularly in aesthetic terms. Being raised in Tlaxcala, the state ́s crucial contribution to the imagery of Mexican history in relation to the Spanish Conquest, is evident in his oeuvre. In that sense, Muñoz approaches Pre-Columbian symbols as a part of present discourses that are necessary to question and explore.
One of the main axes of his work is the relationship among objects in different contexts, as well as how their meanings can be reordered through material changes, conceptual associations, or painting interventions. The possibilities that the adaptation of objects mean in different environments, are key to Muñoz’ practice: the identity of each piece begins with multiplicity, with the encounter between their “original” meaning and those they come to assimilate both in the process of artistic work and in the meeting point with spectators. This syncretism directly connects the conceptual and the material, and it is in that line where his work develops.
Francisco Muñoz
Temple of Venus/ 2022
acrylic on linen
150x50cm
The imagery of Venus is variable and extensive: it ranges from hieroglyphic inscriptions to its identification by means of symbols, for example the five-pointed star, the hieroglyph of the Mayan day Laamat, the logogram T510b or the figures with a human face that Sprajc identifies with that planet.
Since five-pointed stars are seen in Cacaxtla, also appearing with the character with the scorpion's tail, it was established since the discovery that the murals had a link with Venus. Similarly, the Venusian star has been identified in the attire of character 2 on the west wall of Building B or the mural of La Batalla; In fact, Carlson (1991) uses this symbol and the war scene to propose the Venus-war union that was so popular in the 1990s.
The same author deals with analyzing symbols or signs similar to the five-pointed star or the one known as the hieroglyph of Venus or the star of the Mayan and its equivalents in other Mesoamerican regions.*
*Uriarte, M.T., Velasquez, E. (2013). The mural of the Battle of Cacaxtla. New approaches. In De la Fuente, B. (Coord.) Pre-Hispanic mural painting in Mexico: Cacaxtla. Volume III (p. 692). Mexico: National Autonomous University of Mexico. Institute of Aesthetic Research.
Francisco Muñoz
Two suns / 2022
Acrylic and graphite on linen
150x50cm
The black body paint on the Cacaxtla and Ixcaquixtla examples, and the long hair of the character painted on the south jamb of Building A, seem to refer to the office of sacrificer if we consider the description made by several missionaries of the priests who painted themselves in black and have very long hair. Fray Alonso de Molina provides annotations for papactli in his Nahuatl-Spanish dictionary: “long and tangled hair of the ministers of idols, and hair of those who serve in the temples of idols.” Garibay (1996:137) also discusses the etymology of this word: “Pope, popes, the Spaniards called the priests of the idols. The word comes from papahua: the one with tangled tangles or hair, papactli, that is, the long matted hair that fell from their heads, hardened by the ritual black dye and blood.
*Urcid, J., Dominguez, E. (2013). The House of Earth, the House of Heaven: the murals in Building A of Cacaxtla. In De la Fuente, B. (Coord.) Pre-Hispanic mural painting in Mexico: Cacaxtla. Volume III (pp. 628-630). Mexico: National Autonomous University of Mexico. Institute of Aesthetic Research.
Francisco Muñoz
Evening Necklace / 2022
Acrylic and graphite on canvas
150x150cm
In Cacaxtla, the feline is embodied in several murals of different structures, from those considered earliest, which are those of the Staircase Room, to the latest, such as those of Building A. There are also images of felines in the murals of the substructure of Building B, in the Red Temple and the Temple of Venus. However, although its presence is constant in Cacaxtla, it is important to point out that in none of the cases was the full-body feline represented in a natural position, unlike what happens, for example, with the bird represented on the south wall of Building A, or as it's the case of several animals that are part of the so-called aquatic bands, among which are mollusks, crabs, toads, turtles, snakes and herons. On the other hand, there are many examples in which the feline is part of the clothing of various characters, which shows the importance of wearing an outfit made with the skin of a mammal of this type acquired in pre-Hispanic times. In addition, one of the most remarkable ways in which the feline is represented is combined with other animals, that is, some attributes of the carnivore are mixed with those of other species to form a supernatural animal.
*Title by Hugo Robledo
*Warrior, F. (2013). The presence of the feline in the mural painting of Cacaxtla. In De la Fuente, B. (Coord.) Pre-Hispanic mural painting in Mexico: Cacaxtla. Volume III (pp. 480-481). Mexico: National Autonomous University of Mexico. Institute of Aesthetic Research.
Francisco Muñoz
Red Temple I / 2022
Acrylic, wax crayon on canvas
50x50cm
Francisco Muñoz
Red Temple II / 2022
Acrylic, wax crayon on canvas
50x50cm
The dominant figure on the east wall is a man with a dark red body with small gray-white patches. Most of his aged face is painted blue, but the area around his mouth is yellow. Although the black spots have faded, it is very likely that this represented the skin of a jaguar (these spots have faded in different parts of the mural). Above her earmuff there's a pink feline ear with spots. Her jaguar features extend to claws instead of feet and hands—which resemble gloves and boots—as well as a jaguar skirt and headdress. Hair tied to the front comes out of the open jaws of the feline and several strands fall on its back. Hanging from his neck is a pectoral with trilobed endings and crossed bands in the center. It is green-blue to represent jade, and is paired with a gem belt, necklace, earmuffs, bracelets, and anklets. On his shoulders he wears a gray cape woven with geometric designs on a pink background. He carries a short staff and on it we find his glyphic name, this time the head of an animal −which looks like a dog− followed by the numeral 4. This jaguar-man is standing in front of a large bundle leaning on a post. The latter may be a weapon shaft with a serrated edge stuck in the ground. Mesoamerican merchants - for example the Mexica pochteca - carried weapons with them to protect themselves from the dangers of foreign lands.
*Martin, S. (2013). The Red Temple and the Mayans: art, mythology and cultural contacts in the paintings of Cacaxtla. In De la Fuente, B. (Coord.) Pre-Hispanic mural painting in Mexico: Cacaxtla. Volume III (p. 530). Mexico: National Autonomous University of Mexico. Institute of Aesthetic Research.
_CC781905-5CDE-3194-BB3B-13BAD5CF58D_*MARTIN, S. (2013). The red temple and the Maya: art, mythology and cultural contacts in cacaxtla paintings. In De la Fuente, B. (coord.) Pre -Hispanic mural painting in Mexico: Cacaxtla. Volume III (p. 530). Mexico: National Autonomous University of Mexico. Aesthetic Research Institute.
