Sylvia Ji’s subjects are zombified women with lips sewn up tight and painted faces. Though technically quite talented, the use of symbolism in her artwork can be blunt to the point of banality, as is the case with “La Calavera Catrina” (perhaps you noticed the black widow spider dangling from her hat? If not there’s another one crawling on her hair). At some point her artwork becomes like a blandly-executed version of one of those posters with 100 hidden references to band names, but without the laughs.
“I love your show and everyone should listen.”
–Sandra Tsing Loh
“That’s kind of genius.” –Katie Herzog
“Great job!” –Russ Roberts
“This was a good conversation.” –Michael Shermer
“I don’t know what to think about that.” –Andrew Gelman
Others: James Corbett , Matt Welch , Pete Quiñones , Zvi Mowshowitz , Vin Armani
“That’s kind of genius.” –Katie Herzog
“Great job!” –Russ Roberts
“This was a good conversation.” –Michael Shermer
“I don’t know what to think about that.” –Andrew Gelman
Others: James Corbett , Matt Welch , Pete Quiñones , Zvi Mowshowitz , Vin Armani
I found your blog through a Google image search for la calavera Catrina, and just wanted to leave a quick note to help explain a little about what this series from Ji is about. The women are modeled after Dia de los Muertos skeletons — and specifically after upper-class lady skeletons called Catrinas — so the black accents are meant to look like bare skull eye sockets, nose cartilage gaps, and the outlines of teeth. You can read more about Catrinas on Wikipedia if you’re interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Calavera_Catrina.
Dia de los Muertos is a fascinating Mexican Holiday and the art associated with it is very beautiful and colorful. You should def look into it before you form your opinion on the ‘zombie women’
I’m glad someone else said something about the blurb below the pic. Just found this thread and thought the writer’s dismissal of the image was a bit premature.
Im really facinated with this Catrina picture, was wondering if there’s any way I would be able to obtain it in a poster to hang in my bedroom.
Yep, the author of the blurb is pretty blunt with this lack of comprehension on the subject of the painting. Why did he bother writing at all? Could have kept his lack of insight to himself. What banal blog post…