When he learned that pigs can be a source of new strains of influenza, famed Mexican artist Francisco Toledo was highly motivated to create this painting. The pig reminds him of his childhood, when he used to visit an abattoir where his grandfather slaughtered pigs for a living. Francisco says the smell and the way the animal was slaughtered caused a big impression on him. Pigs appear throughout his career in several of his pieces. Here he has prepared a painting using egg tempera on paper of a pig precariously descending a transport ramp.
“I have somehow always related to the pig, so I chose to work with H1N1 as a theme, an influenza virus that had its first outbreaks in my native Mexico.”
Francisco Toledo is considered by many to be Mexico’s most important and provocative living artists. His work is imbued with his Mexican heritage of history and mythology. He has exhibited at numerous museums and galleries in Europe, Mexico, South and North America and Asia, and is represented in public and private collections worldwide.
Read more about Francisco Toledo.
Photo Credit: Trine Ellitsgaard
See Francisco Toledo at work on this piece in his studio in Ouxaca, Mexico.
Photos courtesy of Sara Ellitsgaard.