Art for the Animal Rights Activist

I visited el Museo del Barrio last Saturday. The above image is what I chose to write about for my museum class. Here is a little blurb from my response paper:

I am an animal advocate so there were several pieces in the El Museo’s Bienal: The (S) Files 007 exhibit at el Museo del Barrio that I connected with. If I see something in the art world that depicts animals in distress I usually stay far away from them but Andrés García-Peña and Oscar Oiwa were two artists I enjoyed studying.

Andrés García-Peña Cojida en el Cielo de los Toros depicts a bullfight but from the bull’s perspective. The bull is finally getting his revenge on the matador while his fellow spirit or angel bulls cheer him on from the stands. The spirits are drinking, smoking, laughing and celebrating, enjoying every minute of the matador’s demise. It’s a different take on the hero myth with the bull as the hero and the human as the beast. I also liked the style that García-Peña used in his paintings. The matador and bull are painted realistically while the spirits take an almost cartoon look, yet another example of humans anthropomorphizing animals. It is interesting to look at García-Peña’s entire bull collection at http://andresgarciapena.com/bulls.html. When the bull finally kills the matador dead he stands on his hind legs and lifts his front legs up similar to what a fighter in boxing match would do when he achieved victory. I find bull fighting horrific so this piece put me in such a good mood!