Client: PRIVATE
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Completion date: 2020
Artwork budget: $6,000
Project Team
alejandro de la vega
private
Overview
XAYACATL / MASK.
My work as an artist and architect transpires in parallel, with the evolution of technology, I have immersed myself in a new combination of art and science, applicable to any material, including carbon steel, wood, sandstone and many more, parametric designs can produce 60, 600 or 6,000 or an infinity of similar pieces, all with slight geometric variations controlled by creativity.
Material: Haya wood veneer with paper back
Size: 51 x 64 in / 129.5 x 162.5 cm
Goals
Sculpture of cells placed in tension to generate a set of thin and flexible pieces of wood that present parametric variations, not always perceptible at first glance, but that in their entirety endow the composition with a unique personality. In such a way, that enhances the expressive force of its dark holes, illuminated surfaces, vertices, angles, points and nodes.
Process
The process began by drawing a Mask with which I initiated an interpretation of the sketch to the sculpture, the piece was cut with a laser cutter in wood veneer with a paper backing for rigidity creating a flower in which all the pieces are different as they would be in nature but in a contemporary and modern interpretation.
Additional Information
Masks have been used in Mesoamerican cultures for over 3000 years. Masks were used by priests to summon the strength of deities, according to murals and codices. Masks are now often used in communal ritual dances, such as those commemorating patron saint days, Carnival, and Christmas. The dancers seldom create these traditional Mexican masks, which are typically created by a mask maker.