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    Omar Mendoza’s Natural Pigment Paintings Radiate the Power of Ancestral Knowledge

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    “Noche obsidiana” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, indigo blue, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, jonote, zacatlaxcalli, kina, charcoal, turmeric, beet, and beeswax on handmade cotton surface. Images © Omar Mendoza, shared with permission

    Omar Mendoza’s Natural Pigment Paintings Radiate the Power of Ancestral Knowledge

    September 26, 2025

    Art

    Jackie Andres

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    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.

    Detail of “Lluvia florida”

    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.

    “Espejo obsidiana” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, indigo blue, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, jonote, zacatlaxcalli, kina, charcoal and blue wood on handmade cotton surface

    Detail of “Camino a casa”

    Detail of “Invocación”

    “Lluvia florida” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, indigo blue, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, zacatlaxcalli, kina, charcoal, turmeric, beet and beeswax on handmade cotton surface

    “Serpiente de jade” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, indigo blue, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, jonote, kina and turmeric on handmade cotton surface

    “Eclipse” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, indigo blue, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, kina, turmeric and obsidian on handmade cotton surface

    “Cantares” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, indigo blue, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, zacatlaxcalli, kina, charcoal, turmeric, beet, alder and beeswax on handmade cotton surface

    “Cielo roto” (2025), mayan blue, mayan green, brazilian wood, mexican honeysuckle, zacatlaxcalli, kina, charcoal, turmeric, beet and beeswax on handmade cotton surface

    Detail of “Eclipse”

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      in Art

      Beams of Light Lance Monumental Architecture in Jun Ong’s Astral Installations

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      “STAR/BUTTERWORTH.” Photo by Ronaldas Buozis. All images courtesy of the artist, shared with permission

      Beams of Light Lance Monumental Architecture in Jun Ong’s Astral Installations

      December 30, 2024

      ArtDesign

      Kate Mothes

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      In artist Jun Ong’s luminous installations, rays of light pierce through concrete, stone, and steel. In his ongoing Stars series features LED strips that intersect with the human-built environment in monumental, illuminated geometries.

      Ong’s latest piece, “HALO,” relies on an existing architectural structure to provide a site-specific framework. Beams of light appear to permeate stone and concrete, simultaneously contained by the buildings yet impervious to their solidity.

      “HALO.” Photo by YueJin Art Museum

      Exploring themes of time and space, “HALO” radiates from within the Xiu De Bai Pavilion, a former Buddhist temple in Yan Shui, Tainan, Taiwan. “Built in 1919, the temple has history tracing back to the Qing dynasty and was pivotal in supporting the community,” Ong says.

      “Light in Buddhism is an important metaphor for enlightenment—the awakening or the understanding of truth,” says a statement from YueJin Art Museum. Just as Buddha, in addition to sacred figures in other religions, is often portrayed with a bright aura or halo around the head or body, Ong envisions the burst of light as a means of illuminating our surroundings and our past.

      “HALO” builds upon a work titled “STAR/BUTTERWORTH,” which he installed in Penang, Malaysia, in 2015. The artist was inspired by the idiosyncratic designs of Buckminster Fuller, like his geodesic domes, and M.C. Escher’s optical illusions.

      He says, “Using only two materials—tensile steel cables and LED strips—I manipulated light and architecture to create a colossal object that seemingly burst out of the building like a glitch in time.”

      Detail of “HALO”

      For “HALO,” Ong created a starburst form that can also be interpreted as a ring of light, reimagining a 2022 piece called “STAR/KL,” which he installed in brutalist interior in Kuala Lumpur. “I hope that the Star series continues to emerge across different cities and cultures and possibly also in interesting terrains, like caves, the desert, or even forests,” Ong says.

      Commissioned by for the 2024 Yuejin Art Museum Festival, “HALO” remains on view through February 16. If you’re in The Netherlands, you can also see Ong’s piece “POLARIS” on view as part of the Amsterdam Light Festival through January 19. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      Detail of “STAR/BUTTERWORTH.” Photo by Ronaldas Buozis

      “POLARIS”

      Detail of “HALO”

      “HALO.” Photo by YueJin Art Museum

      “POLARIS.” Photo by Merce Wouthuysen

      Detail of “STAR/BUTTERWORTH.” Photo by Ronaldas Buozis

      Detail of “HALO.” Photo by YueJin Art Museum

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    • 163 Shares159 Views

      in Art

      A 70-Meter-Wide Installation by Artist Yang Yongliang Immerses Viewers in a Galactic Cityscape

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      Art

      #black and white
      #installation
      #landscapes
      #light
      #stars
      #video

      July 24, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      
      Artist Yang Yongliang (previously) harmonizes human-generated light and naturally glowing stars in a celestial, 4K video installation. Set to an eerie, technological soundtrack, “Journey to the Dark II” winds through a mountainous city that spans 70 meters across. Movement in the immersive piece is confined mostly to the cars traveling across bridges and down streets, and the lights emit a constant glow among the modern architecture and landforms.
      Residing in Shanghai and New York, Yang often juxtaposes modern, industrial life and organic elements to produce dystopian environments that question human progress. “Ancient Chinese people painted landscapes to praise the greatness of nature; Yang’s works, on the other hand, lead towards a critical re-thinking of contemporary reality,” said a statement about a similarly foreboding project.
      To explore more of the artist’s digital work and follow his upcoming projects, check out his Instagram and Vimeo.

      “Journey to the Dark II” (2019), video installation, 12 × 70 meters, 12,600 × 2,160 pixels. All images © Yongliang Yang, shared with permission

      #black and white
      #installation
      #landscapes
      #light
      #stars
      #video

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    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Art

      Dots, Dashes, and Lines Form Astronomical Maps Painted by Shane Drinkwater

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       All images © Shane Drinkwater Australian artist Shane Drinkwater writes on his website that when it comes to painting, he in interested in the “making.” Using a system of lines, dashes, numbers, and circles, Drinkwater creates works that often appear as astronomical maps of imagined star systems. Abstract stars form repeated patterns around vibrant […] More