Equilibro (Eh-Kee-Lee-Bree-O)
Means Balance
In the background of this painting are two iconic mountains which have a wonderful myth about them:
Iztaccíhuatl (Eex-Tah-Cee-Wah-tl) an Aztec princess, was falsely told that her betrothed warrior Popocatépetl (Poh-Poh-Cah-Teh-Peh-tl) had died in battle. Believing the news, she went to the snow covered mountains and died of grief. When Popocatépetl returned to find his love dead, he took her body to a spot outside Tenochtitlan and kneeled by her grave. Furious at the lie and fate of his princess, Popocatepetl screamed at the skies. The gods took pity on the lovers, covering them with snow and changed them into mountains. Iztaccíhuatl means slumbering woman in white and Popo is a piping hot angry volcano still active today.
They are iconic in Mexican folklore both represented as mountains and humans.
In the foreground of the painting lies a jaguar up in the branches of the a tree. Juxtaposed to the jaguar are a pair of sparring crocodiles.
The Maya likened the earth’s surface to a crocodiles’ back; peaks and valleys like their rough skin. The earth or bumpy skin has a stationary quality to it.
The Olmecs treasured the jaguar for it’s transitional properties. It could move and guide through different worlds.
Here I have depicted the animals in opposite stances; the crocs become active and the jaguar passive and stationary. They balance each other’s attributes.
These are also some of the largest animals in central America. The jaguar is an apex predator and is the only animal that can take down a crocodile. In this way they define each other- they see themselves through the other’s eyes.
In this painting everything is coupled; there are two moons, two mountains, two crocs. Having positioned the viewer from above, they can assume the role of a second jaguar. Here the viewer adopts the jaguar’s subjectivity.