Zosen, El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg

BarcelonaArt & Culture

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Barcelona street artist Zosen plunges into the trippy world of Mexican folk art...

Over in Metepec, Mexico, there’s a tradition of making clay sculptures to teach the Biblical story of creation through the book’s well-known characters and iconography. Originally they were used to school the natives in colonial times, but the practice of making the objects continues to this day. Their themes have, in recent years, evolved beyond Adam and Eve and the Tree of Life to convey non-religious stories and far-out figures, and Barcelona street artist Zosen has been busy putting his own distinctive spin on the tradition for a new collection named El Arbol de la Vida (The Tree of Life).

Zosen’s site-specific installation takes things in a shamanistic direction with his series of ceramic and printed works bearing the folkloric, brilliantly coloured mask-like faces that might visit one on a desert peyote trip. Indeed, the show is being billed as “a psychedelic trip to the rhythm of cumbia”, and while we’re nor promising they’ll be handing out bowls of steaming ayahuasca at Fluorescent Smogg‘s new project space, you’re sure of a very different experience. The street artist has also produced an exclusive fine art edition of 20 hand-finished four-colour screen prints. It’s all happening at Carrer de Radas 41 in Poble Sec; closing date is 2 July.

@fluorescentSmog

Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona

Chacal/Jackal
(9.5 x 16)

Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona

El Demonio de Oruro/The Demon of Oruro
(16 x 18.5)

Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona

La Muerte/The Dead
(16.5 x 14)

Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona Zosen El Arbol de la Vida at Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona

Photography, Filipp Shamshin@filippsh