Encasing Identity: A Spotlight on Roberto Benavidez

By Kei Yong

Roberto Benavidez’s playful piñatas push the boundaries of its traditional symbolism and function to embody the artists own identity as a queer Mexican artist. In the artist’s own words, he states that by repurposing this Mexican folk craft, his work ‘serves a bit as a bridge between [Mexican and European] cultures.’ This is exemplified in his collection Pinatas of Earthly Delights, an adaptation of Hieronymus Bosch’s nude bodies in The Garden of Earthly Delights (1503-1515).

Roberto Benavidez, Bosch Bird No. 1 from his series ‘Hieronymus Bosch Piñatas’. Photo courtesy of the artist.

In this series, Benavidez’s transforms the nude figures into fantastical animal piñatas adopting the original poses of Bosch’s works but adapting the symbolism of the figures to resemble Benavidez’s own heritage. For example, Benavidez’s Bosch Bird No. 1 (2013) does still resemble Bosch’s overarching theme of sin, but it is more focused on the Mesoamerican experience and its relationship with Christianity. The artist explains that the European missionaries appropriated the Mexican star piñata into a form of Christian conversion. With the star representing the seven deadly sins and the blindfold representing faith, the sweets that came out of the paper sculpture were supposed to symbolise the rewards of unconditional devotion towards God. Benavidez relates this to his own experience growing up as a mixed-race queer Catholic in rural Texas where ‘The concept of sin was ever-present. I never have been a believer but [that] religious conditioning predisposes my brain to commentary.’

It can be argued that the intimacy of Benavidez’s queer, racial, and religious adaptation of Bosch’s work contributes towards the complexity of modern readings of The Garden of Earthly Delights surrounding gender and queer theory. In Caitlyn Rose Sweet’s feminist and queer dissection of Bosch’s work, she argues that it envisions ‘feminine bodies as receptacles/vessels’ often interpreting the work based on patriarchal narratives of female sexuality and temptation arousing male desire. Benavidez plays with this concept of male desire and sexuality, or rather excludes it in Piñatas of Earthly Delights given that all of the humans are transformed into animals. The reason for this adaptation remains ambiguous and could simply be a nod towards the fantasy of Bosch’s environment and the tradition of pinatas adopting mystical and fictional forms. Another reason could be that Benavidez’s creation of androgynous animals is an effort to reconstruct the heteronormative relationship given that this is a common habit of his within his collections. For example, in his series Birdr, the artist stages two bright red cardinal birds sharing a berry in Courting Cardinal Sin. The artist explains that‘most birds are sexually dimorphic, meaning that male and female have different coloured plumage,’ but amongst his other colourful sculptures, it would be easy to overlook his queer intention. With the cardinal birds, the artist cleverly plays with the double meaning of ‘cardinal’ as the species but also to the ‘cardinal priest’, the religious leadership title in the Roman Catholic Church. The homosexual relationship of the birds, which could easily also represent two Roman Catholic priests, creates a complex narrative of self-contradictions and entices speculation amongst the viewers who manage to identify the relationship between these minute details.

Roberto Benavidez, Courting Cardinal Sin from his series ‘Birdr’. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Still adhering to the traditional methods and materials of piñata making, Benavidez relies on his skillset and intellect to elevate the typically cheap supermarket sculpture. Instead of straight cut paper fringes, Benavidez experiments with different cutting methods to manipulate the paper for the most effective recreation of his creatures. His previous experience as a metal sculptor has provided him with a solid foundation in three-dimensional work, however he decided to change his medium as he desired to use more accessible materials. His supplies are largely like those that would be found in a classroom to create papier-mâché as it includes PVA glue, crepe paper (of which its quality may vary to being as high as it being sourced from Italy), wooden dowels, newspaper, and cardboard.

Roberto Benavidez, Piñata from his series’ Illuminated Hybrid’. Photo courtesy of the artist.

The relationship between the simplicity of the materials and its relationship to queer and cultural dynamics could be a nod towards the tendency to overcomplicate these topics of discussion. Benavidez has avoided to address the intention of his work explicitly, stating that these qualities are merely aspects of his artwork, just as they are aspects of his own character, but they should not necessarily be definitive qualities of himself or his work. Him and his work just exist as they are. But he is also aware that the artists identity can never truly be separate from his work. He says that ‘I composed my simple artist statement to give enough biographical information for the viewer to connect the dots if they choose to. But again, I also don’t think it ever has to be explained or even be apparent to the audience necessarily.’

What one can gather from Benavidez’s statement is that there is a tendency to elaborate storylines or whatever is presented to them. Benavidez’s work takes the approach of observing history and human behaviour and remodelling it into a modern narrative that is truly uncomplicated. It does not have to take on the active motion of correcting or revealing truths, rather it shows the audience the simplicity of human behaviour through foreign beings which make these relationships more acceptable to our conditioned eye.

Notes:

Benavidez, Roberto. “About.” Roberto Benavidez. Accessed May 21, 2023. https://robertobenavidez.com/about.

Ebert, Grace. “Paper Sculptures by Roberto Benavidez Re-envision Common Birds and Fantastical Creatures as Metallic Piñatas.” Colossal, April 22, 2022. https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2022/04/roberto-benavidez-bird-pinatas/.

Travers, Julia. “How I Made This: Roberto Benavidez’s Fanciful Piñatas.” ARTnews.com, January 5, 2022. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/roberto-benavidez-pinatas-1234614960/.