Label Type
Object LabelLabel
Harold Mendez (b. 1977)
Let us gather in a flourishing way, 2016
Travertine, oxidized copper reproduction of a
pre-Columbian death mask from the Museo del Oro
(Bogota, Colombia), water, carnations
Collection of DePaul Art Museum, Art Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2017.8
A first-generation American artist born in Chicago to Colombian and Mexican parents, Harold Mendez creates sculptures and installations that investigate the intersection of identity with historical narratives and cycles. Borrowing its title from a poem by Juan Felipe Herrera, Mendez explores the tension between fiction and truth, visibility and absence, with an interest in how constructions of history and geography shape our sense of self. A crumpled, copper copy of a pre-Columbian death mask from the Museo del Oro in Bogota, Colombia, is set upon a slab of travertine marble, a material often used for monumental sculpture. The mask is filled with distilled water, in which visitors may see their own face reflected, and is replenished throughout the run of the exhibition. White carnations are scattered across the travertine, evoking rituals of birth and death. Meaning “heavenly flower” in Greek, carnations symbolize love and innocence and are said to have sprung up from the Virgin Mary’s tears upon witnessing Jesus’ crucifixion.