La Aflicción de San Marcos [The Affliction of Saint Mark]

Primary Alfredo Castañeda (Mexico City, Mexico, 1938–Madrid, Spain (?), 2010)

NationalityMexican, North America

Date1976

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsFramed: 48 1/8 x 63 7/8 in. (122.2 x 162.2 cm)
Canvas: 47 3/8 x 63 1/8 in. (120.4 x 160.3 cm)

Credit LineBlanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Archer M. Huntington Museum Fund, P1976.20

Keywords

figurative

Rights Statement

IN COPYRIGHT - EDUCATIONAL USE PERMITTED

Collection AreaLatin American Art

Object numberP1976.20

On View

Not on view

Label Text

Web Comments

Alfredo Castañeda presents a symbolic as well as a stylistic conundrum in his work. He combines self-portraits with spiritual themes, while working in a realistic style inspired by both Mexican traditions and Northern Renaissance painting. The Affliction of Saint Mark addresses such spiritual concerns, alluding to the biblical Evangelist whose symbol is a winged lion. Here, Castañeda presents himself as the Saint’s alter ego, holding the shrouded angelic beast tight to prevent its escape. He depicts this mysterious scene as if it were a photograph that was torn and then taped onto a blank canvas, and thus, certifiably real, as captured by the camera’s objective eye. He affirmed that his style “is a realism which is subjective, to say it in a certain way, to the gaps left by objective reality, within the obvious, within the external, within that which is proven. This is the reality of the emptiness which remains.” Castañeda teases elements of mystery out of the very fabric of reality to build the uncanny atmospheres that characterize his paintings.