Los monstruos de la noche triste

The Monsters Collection

A set of vessels made in barro negro bruñido (burnished black clay) from Oaxaca, with legs carved in rose wood from a master carpenter in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco.

The concept of this series is related to the story of La noche triste (the sad night), the night when Hernán Cortés's army lost control of the region at an important battle at Tenochtitlan from the Mexicas.

Confused and impotent Hernán sat under an old large tree and cried, thinking of his dead friends and soldiers, of his uncertain future and his frustration in his quest for riches.

The tree still exists

In the same way Cortés's fears are transformed into the monsters in the shape of vessels containing offerings, foods from the Mexicas, hearts of sacrificed Mexicas, Christian crosses and other religious objects. The monsters surround him, these monsters appear from the wet and black clay and have grown legs, just in the same shape as the roots of the tree where he sits, the legs help the vessels to move with agility around him and jump and disturb all night with these objects and ideas.

As a complementary visual support for this idea for this piece is the artwork from the French artist Honore Daumier

“The Misanthropist” that can express this idea with more definition, in Daumier's etching we can see a man surrounded by tiny reproductions of himself playing in different moods around him, while the man is thoughtful and contemplative.