Description

RETNA. El Mescalero, 2018. Etching (punta seca). 49x38 cm / 19.29 x 14.96 in. Edition of 33. signed & numbered. $4500 usd. ?. RETNA is coming back with a new Brimstone character called "El Mescalero", this print is the first etching presented by MAIA Contemporary & Print Them All (París, France). This Brimstone character is like an alter ego of the artist who appears represented as an anthropomorphic creature with religious references and a mechanical device that seems to hide an ancient scroll that acts as a tongue. This etching series has been created during Retna's stay in Mexico for his solo show "The Long Count" organized by Maia Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Oaxaca (MACO). During his stay, Retna had the occasion to visit the renowned studio Taller De Grabado of Fernando Sandoval in Oaxaca where he decided to create a series of etchings including "El Mescalero". The Mescalero character shows his broken teeth, while drinking a mezcal bottle, wearing a rosary, and crosses in his clothes and forehead, broken bones, clothes out, cigarette in mouth.