Raul Sisniega: Mistica Salvaje

Inspired by one of the most beautiful precolumbian codexes (codex Borgia), Mistica Salvaje is a series of images that aim to to illustrate a science fiction narrative that describes a super natural trip of connection with nature and ancient intelligences.

The artworks are presented as if they were loose pages of an ancient document, painted a long time ago by an anonymous artist.

The story begins when a humanoid character accesses a supernatural enclosure by using a mystical ingredient found in the carpel of a strange flower known as Demetria. Once the mysterious spice is ingested, the voyage starts. Throughout this experience the protagonist gets in touch with symbols of life, death, movement, renovation and eternity. All of this create a feeling of profound connection with the environment and help to become aware of the spiritual realm, where visions of ancient deities appear as
teachers of the one and only truth, we are all one big spirit and there is only one rule: love.

All these experiences are portrayed in a series of 9 acrylic ink paintings that aim to create a contemporary mix of precolumbian aestethic with videogames and cartoons.

The intention is to invite the observer to reflect on deep philosophical subjects like creation of humankind, spirituality and our relationship to planet Earth.

As part of the show, I include a series of six small mixed media drawings that are very important since they were the first step taken during the journey of creation of this series. Each drawing depicts a god like creature inspired by the nahuatl concept of Teteo Nan ( God mother). For the mexicas, Teteo Nan were the intelligences that created the material universe. I guess you can call them gods if you wish to use a
more european and colonial approach. I prefer to call them ancient alien intelligence or Spiritual Weaving Machines.

Finally,I included a couple of silkscreen prints that were used to make street art interventions in Mexico City during the first half o year 2022, where two of the Spiritual Weaving Machine designs were used to create a mosaique pattern.

Hope you enjoy watching this series as much as I enjoyed creating it!

- Raul Sisniega