(2) Oaxacan Alebrijes Armadillo Hand Carved and Painted Sculptures. The whimsical creatures, one standing on its hind feet, one on all fours, are covered in bright repeating patterns, and marked on their undersides with the artist's names. The one on all fours is by Leandro Vasquez, and the upright one is by Cirilo Rios. Each piece is hand-made by artisans in a distinct village in the Oaxaca region of Mexico, with no two being alike and often predicated on the piece of wood the artisan starts with. 

Condition: Overall great. 

Size: 2 1/2 x 5 x 17 1/2 in. 

Alebrijes are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical and/or mythical creatures, traditionally made from papier-mâché or wood. The art form originated in Mexico City in the 1930s, when Pedro Linares, a papier-mâché artist, began creating surreal, dreamlike creatures after experiencing vivid hallucinations during an illness. His designs, which combined elements of various animals into each other and incorporated bright dotted psychedelic designs, became widely recognized as alebrijes and were later adopted by artisans in Oaxaca, who combined the technique with traditional animal carvings the local Zapotec tribes had done for millennia using copal wood, a local softwood. Alebrijes are now a significant part of Mexican folk art, blending indigenous traditions with modern artistic expression. They are often associated with Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), though they are not traditionally part of the holiday’s customs. Today, alebrijes are crafted in various regions of Mexico and have gained international recognition, appearing in exhibitions, festivals, and even contemporary media. The Oaxacan tradition has become an art form in its own right, with the finest sculptors like Zeny Fuentes and Reyna Pina gaining international attention for their elaborate and dazzling pieces, sometimes many feet across, and often carved from a single piece of wood.

Overall great.