ABOUT THE ARTIST

José Benítez Sánchez, creator of the yarn paintings in this exhibition, is widely regarded as the master of this medium which is unique to the Huichol Indians of northwestern Mexico. Benítez is also a shaman with personal experience of other worlds, the mythical realms of Huichol gods and sacred ancestors.

Benítez’s works of art depict what this shaman-artist sees while experiencing colorful visions triggered by the peyote cactus, considered sacred by the Huichol people. Benítez is only one of scores of Huichol artists, many of them also shamans, who "paint" today with colored yarns instead of oils or watercolors. His well-deserved fame is derived from the fluid curvilinear style he pioneered in the 1970s. Now in his third decade as a shaman-artist, Benítez is renowned not only for the seamless flow of interlocking elements that fill the entire painting but also for his superior technical skill and use of fine yarns.

The subject matter of his yarn paintings—the gods of his people, the animals, plants, mountains, rivers, and events in the mythical past as well as in the present—provides a glimpse into shamanic art and the complex spiritual universe of the Huichol people.