Skip to main content
Video Loading
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6

Mr. Mitote
"Diablito de pared II" art toy, red devil, pop art, Mexican, contempo, sculpture

2024

$1,130
£860.89
€992.64
CA$1,581.41
A$1,766.96
CHF 924.32
MX$21,668.65
NOK 11,811.03
SEK 11,199.99
DKK 7,408.59
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

A piece from the exhibition "Cosmic Duality" by artist Mr. Mitote. Mitote is a term we use today to describe a lively, noisy, and excessive gathering. It’s also used to depict tumultuous gatherings marked by disorder, commotion, and sometimes even quarrels. In the colonial past, mitote was a celebration commemorating the establishment of the New Spain kingdom, blending local pride with imperial solemnity. However, throughout both ancient times and the present day, mitotes serve as rituals embedded in the culture and religiosity of various indigenous groups in Mexico, such as the Nahua, Cora, Tepehuan, and Huichol. Adorned in rich attire, gathered around a fire amidst the sounds of musical instruments, and under the intoxicating influence of alcoholic beverages, mitotes serve as occasions to invoke sacred beings—whether protective deities of nature or Christian saints associated with agriculture—to pray for bountiful harvests. Mitotes encompass and have always embodied rites, myths, and life. In homage to the artist’s name, this exhibition is presented as a mitote: a celebration displaying the intimate mythologies of its creator through various artistic expressions such as sculpture, artwork, and video. Cosmic Duality is a concept wherein Mr. Mitote delves into memories of his childhood from a contemporary perspective. His mother introduced him at a young age to the traditions and customs of her native Maltrata, Veracruz, a town steeped in the memory of a noble past wherein it fought for its autonomy. Every year on January 1st, to invoke prosperity, the dance of the huehues (meaning “old people” or “elders” in Nahuatl) is performed. According to oral and local traditions, these characters embody foes in a mocked and vanquished manner, dancing beneath the lash of a tiger or devil. Their costumes feature pre-Columbian symbols merged with elements evoking nature, alongside nods to contemporary entertainment culture. Through the observation and interpretation of nature, numerous ancestral cultures created dual cosmologies. Far from viewing opposites, they conceived of dual complementary systems such as chaos-order, cold-heat, humidity-drought, feminine-masculine, and life-death, among others, to uphold cosmic order. Placed within the context of Mexico City, Mr. Mitote reimagines these enduring principles from ancient religious practices alongside contemporary languages. He does so through vibrant entities that blend tradition and innovation, memory and fantasy, past and present, ancestral ceremonies, and urban rituals. Each artwork serves as a reminder that across all latitudes and human territories, culture thrives, tradition evolves continuously, the past is revitalized, and the present shapes the path forward into the future. The body has served as the quintessential conduit bridging two dual dimensions: the human and the divine, the earthly and the celestial, the microcosm and the macrocosm. In several of his artworks, Mr. Mitote invokes propitiatory dances, and ritual practices, aimed at attracting abundant rain and fostering good harvests, many of which entail risking the physical well-being and even the lives of participants. The tiger hunt or tecuani is one such agricultural dance deeply ingrained in the culture of Nahua peoples spanning regions such as Puebla, Morelos, Michoacán, State of Mexico, Oaxaca, and Guerrero, among Nahua, Mixtec, and Amuzgo communities. While exhibiting local variations, it symbolizes the pursuit of the jaguar (the tecuani) by men typically depicted as elderly. The jaguar has held sacred significance in central and southern Mexican territories for over four millennia. Associated with the mysteries of the night, it served as the nahual* of priests and rulers. The presence of the tecuani-jaguar-tiger in Mr. Mitote’s work also carries a personal significance: it embodies his nahual. Hailing from a region steeped in shamanic traditions, Mr. Mitote imbues each artwork in this exhibition with a new and distinct realm wherein the thunderous echoes of the sky intertwine with the earth’s tremors, courtesy of the magical and transfigurative powers of art. This exhibition serves as a jubilant celebration that, through geometric and vibrant forms, pays homage to and redefines the sacred violence inherent in ritual and myth: it is through death that life flourishes, dismemberment leads to unity and sacrifice yields resurgence. In our pragmatic world, bringing myth, ritual, and magic into the contemporary sphere is akin to igniting a mitote—an exuberant celebration of existence in all its Cosmic Dualities. Abraham Villavicencio (curator) Translation from Spanish: Antonio Quiroz Miranda *Translator’s note: In many Mesoamerican belief systems and some contemporary contexts is an attendant animal spirit and often the protector or guardian of an individual. Humans could also transform into their nahual or possess animal forms in more supernatural contexts.
  • Creator:
    Mr. Mitote (1982, Mexican)
  • Creation Year:
    2024
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 11.8 in (29.98 cm)Width: 7.9 in (20.07 cm)Depth: 3 in (7.62 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Ciudad de México, MX
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2072214732502

More From This Seller

View All
"Diablito de pared III" art toy, red, pop art, Mexican, contempo, sculpture
Located in Ciudad de México, MX
A piece from the exhibition "Cosmic Duality" by artist Mr. Mitote. Mitote is a term we use today to describe a lively, noisy, and excessive gathering. It’s also used to depict tumul...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Resin, Paint, Spray Paint, Acrylic

"Diablito 1" art toy, red devil, pop art, Mexican, mask, contemporary, sculpture
Located in Ciudad de México, MX
A piece from the exhibition "Cosmic Duality" by artist Mr. Mitote. Mitote is a term we use today to describe a lively, noisy, and excessive gathering. It’s also used to depict tumul...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Resin, Paint, Spray Paint, Acrylic

"Diablito 4" art toy, red devil, pop art, Mexican, mask, contemporary, sculpture
Located in Ciudad de México, MX
A piece from the exhibition "Cosmic Duality" by artist Mr. Mitote. Mitote is a term we use today to describe a lively, noisy, and excessive gathering. It’s also used to depict tumul...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Resin, Paint, Spray Paint, Acrylic

"Diablito V" art toy, red devil, pop art, Mexican, mask, contemporary, sculpture
Located in Ciudad de México, MX
A piece from the exhibition "Cosmic Duality" by artist Mr. Mitote. Mitote is a term we use today to describe a lively, noisy, and excessive gathering. It’s also used to depict tumul...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Resin, Paint, Spray Paint, Acrylic

"Tigre de pared II" art toy, tiger, pop art, Mexican, contempo, sculpture
Located in Ciudad de México, MX
A piece from the exhibition "Cosmic Duality" by artist Mr. Mitote. Mitote is a term we use today to describe a lively, noisy, and excessive gathering. It’s also used to depict tumul...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Resin, Paint, Spray Paint, Acrylic

"Tigre de pared I" art toy, tiger, pop art, Mexican, contempo, sculpture
Located in Ciudad de México, MX
A piece from the exhibition "Cosmic Duality" by artist Mr. Mitote. Mitote is a term we use today to describe a lively, noisy, and excessive gathering. It’s also used to depict tumul...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Resin, Paint, Spray Paint, Acrylic

You May Also Like

Red Devil
Located in New York, NY
Unknown/ Unidentified Artist, "Red Devil", Wooden Figurative Folk Art Sculpture, 30 H x 10 W x 6 D, 20th Century, ca. 1989 Colors: Red, Brown, Black Proven...
Category

20th Century Folk Art Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Vintage Italian Articulated Jointed Red Wooden Bear
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Striking red maple bear figurine with hand-painted and applied details (ca. 1950, Italy). Interior elastic and stuffing allow for articulation of limbs. Bear cannot stand on its own but can sit upright. Bold, vibrant decorative object pairing well with Modernist decor...
Category

Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Animal Sculptures

Materials

Maple, Paint

Contemporary Sculpture by Anton "The Red King" in Metal and Red Resin
Located in Miami, FL
In red resin, acryl and metal by the contemporary artist Anton. The artist works of art is an humoristic character standing in many different situations, always funny, in bright col...
Category

2010s French Modern Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Resin, Acrylic

Pedro Friedeberg Minotaur Sculpture
By Pedro Friedeberg
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
An early example of Pedro Friedeberg's Magic-Surrealist Oeuvre. An Image of the sculpture has been submitted to, and accepted by Mr. Friedeberg for their upcoming Catalog of Works.
Category

Vintage 1970s Mexican Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Wood

Sculpture amulet "Dido Vovchok" by Makhno Studio
By Sergiy Makhno
Located in Jõe tn 2-2 korrus, Tallinn
DIDO is a series of unique art objects by MAKHNO ceramic studio that follows and develops the traditions of Ukrainian zoomorphic sculpture, a unique monument of decorative and applie...
Category

2010s Ukrainian Other Animal Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic

Large Vintage Latin American Hispanic Devil Diablo Folk Art Mask with Horns
Located in Studio City, CA
A fantastic piece. Really quite unique. We have not seen another quite like it. Made from heavy wood and features real horns. Likely South or Central American or perhaps from Mexico. Has clear signs of use and age so we are estimating early to mid-20th century. Would make for a terrific addition to any folk or tribal mask collection...
Category

Mid-20th Century Mexican Folk Art Masks

Materials

Paint, Wood