Since ancient times, artists and craftsmen have drawn upon natural pigments for creative use. Extracting dyes from organic sources is an art in and of itself, deeply rooted in various cultures across the historical Mesoamerican region. Although many traditional practices—like pigment harvesting—have been threatened by external factors such as colonialism, artists continue to keep these processes alive today.

Mexico City-based artist Omar Mendoza taps into the persistence of ancestral knowledge for his newest series of paintings in Serpiente Solar 〰 Noche Obsidiana, or Solar Serpent 〰 Obsidian Night, at Povos. Conjuring hues from native plants, tree bark, and flowers collected from his father’s hometown, supplemented with pigments sourced from local markets, the existence of Mendoza’s works are themselves a symbolic form of resistance.

Visually, the artist’s compositions evoke cosmic power and sacred rhythm. As Mendoza reaches toward the sanctity of time-honored cultural wisdom, he connects both celestial and earthly forces, depicting multitudes of intuition and insight through motifs such as stars, planetary objects, snakes, eagles, vines, and more.

Victoria Rivers’ curatorial text shares:

Omar Mendoza creates these works from a cosmovision in which everything is alive and in relationship: water, stone, plants, fire, night. In that web of sacred correspondences, painting becomes an act of reciprocity with the earth and its cycles.

Symmetry flows through several of Mendoza’s paintings, calling to the mirroring of two worlds. Nonetheless, tactile washes of pink, blue, violet, and yellow atop hand-prepared canvases sumptuously intertwine, presenting a transcendent sense of harmony across Mendoza’s series of works, calling once more to the cyclical energy that courses through them.

Serpiente Solar 〰 Noche Obsidiana opens on October 4 in Chicago. In the meantime, you can find more from Mendoza on Instagram.