Coacuilco Rosario

Oil on Canvas, Rochester, 2002

50cm x 75cm

Coacuilco is the name of the place where Guadalupe was born, and Rosario the name of the neighbourhood in which he grew up. "Coacuilco" is an Aztec name, meaning "snake on the stone". It is a small village amongst the mountains, where people still speak Nahuatl, the Aztec language.

Guadalupe took some of his artistic inspiration from working in the fields with the indigenous people, and, among other things, learnt how to dye cloth. In this way he discovered that every colour has its own message, in the way that it is expressed.

As an artist, Guadalupe sees the village as an abstract, with red to represent the ritual ceremonies, and a circle to represent the eye of the moon, he says, "as the eye of the snake where my journey began."

Exhibitions

• Battersea, Nov 02
• Chelsea, Nov 02 to Mar 03