the forest
Odenwald 1152 / 2007-2009
Transformation emerges as a major theme in Mazal’s paintings and exhibitions in response to Oldenwald, a forest-park cemetery where people’s remains are planted in biodegradable urns at the foot of a tree of their choosing.
The Oldenwald 1152 series, the second in Mazal’s Trilogy, named after the number of a tree made available to Mazal and his family, continues his exploration of the human condition in relationship to death, dying, and re-birth, Implicitly environmental, the series speaks explicitly to the natural cycles that endlessly recreate life. Photography remains to this day an intrinsic part of Mazal’s artistic production. The paintings derive from deliberately “smeared” photographs taken at the cemetery-park during the magic hour of sunset in the small Rhineland town of Michelstadt, Germany. Verticality and the play of light dominate the compositions in response to the rising bars of the tree’s redemptive rhythms.
Jon Carver
Pictured below is the tree gifted to Mazal by then mayor of Michelstadt, Germany, Reinhold Ruhr.
Ricardo Mazal, OD 1152, 2007. Photograph.
photographs
ODENWALD 1152 PH1, 2008. Pigment Ink Print on Paper 30 x 24 inches ( 76 x 70 cm).
ODENWALD 1152 PH2, 2008. Pigment Ink Print on Paper 30 x 24 inches (76 x 70 cm).
ODENWALD 1152 PH3, 2008. Pigment Ink Print on Paper 30 x 24 inches (76 x 70 cm).
ODENWALD 1152 PH4, 2008. Pigment Ink Print on Paper 30 x 24 inches (76 x 70 cm).
ODENWALD 1152 PH5, 2008 Pigment Ink Print on Paper 30 x 24 inches (76 x 70 cm).
ODENWALD 1152 PH6, 2008. Pigment Ink Print on Paper 30 x 24 inches (76 x 70 cm).
ODENWALD 1152 PH7, 2008. Pigment Ink Print on Paper 30 x 24 inches (76 x 70 cm).
ODENWALD 1152 PH8, 2008. Pigment Ink Print on Paper 30 x 24 inches (76 x 70 cm).
ODENWALD 1152 PH9, 2008. Pigment Ink Print on Paper 30 x 24 inches (76 x 70 cm).
ODENWALD 1152 PH10, 2008 Pigment Ink Print on Paper 30 x 24 inches (76 x 70 cm).
ODENWALD 1152 PH11, 2008. Pigment Ink Print on Paper 30 x 24 inches (76 x 70 cm).
ODENWALD 1152 PH12, 2008. Pigment Ink Print on Paper 30 x 24 inches (76 x 70 cm).
INSTALLATION VIEWS
Installation view of ODENWALD 1152, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York City, New York 2008.
Installation view of ODENWALD 1152, Mexican Cultural Institute, Washington D.C. 2008.
Installation view of RICARDO MAZAL: PINTURA Y FOTOGRAFIA 1994-2009, Museo Abstracto Manuel Felguerez, Zacatecas, Mexico 2010.
Installation view of ODENWALD 1152, Dwight Hackett Projects, Santa Fe, NM 2008.
Installation view of RICARDO MAZAL, PINTURA Y FOTOGRAFIA 1994-2009, The Museum of Art Queretaro, QRO, Mexico 2009.
Installation view of ODENWALD 1152 NO. 17, 2008, Banco de Mexico Lobby.
Ricardo Mazal in his studio, painting Odenwald 1152 No. 17, 2008.Oil on linen, 98.5 × 157.5 inches.
SELECTED WORKS
ODENWALD 1152 NO. 12 and NO. 10, 2008. Oil on Linen 98.5 x 78 inches (250 X 198 cm). PRIVATE COLLECTIONS, CANADA AND HONG KONG.
ODENWALD 1152 NO. 8, 2008. Oil on Linen 78 x 120 inches (198 X 305cm). PRIVATE COLLECTION MEXICO CITY, MEXICO.
ODENWALD 1152 NO. 3, 2008. Oil on Linen 78 x 120 inches (198 X 305 cm). PRIVATE COLLECTION SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO.
ODENWALD 1152 NO. 23, 2008. Oil on Linen 78 x 33.5 inches (198 X 85 cm). PRIVATE COLLECTION SANTA FE, NM.
ODENWALD 1152 NO. 18, 2008. Oil on Linen 98.5 x 157.5 inches (250 X 400 cm). PRIVATE COLLECTION DENVER, COLORADO.
ODENWALD 1152 NO. 29, 19, 28, 2008. Oil on Linen 98.5 x 33 inches (250 × 84 cm). PRIVATE COLLECTION, GERMANY.
ENERO 18.10, 2010. Oil on Linen 90 × 133 inches (229 × 338 cm). PRIVATE COLLECTION.
ODENWALD 1152 NO. 22, 21, 2008. Oil on Linen 73 x 33.5 inches (198 X 85 cm).
ODENWALD 1152 NO. 5, 2008. Oil on Linen 78 x 120 inches / 198 X305 CM, PRIVATE COLLECTION.
ODENWALD 1152 NO. 17, 2008. Oil on Linen 98.5 x 157.5 inches (250 X 400 cm). PRIVATE COLLECTION, BANCO DE MEXICO.