Antonio Alonso: The axolotl emperor’s court, papier-mâché sculpture
Antonio Alonso: The axolotl emperor’s court, papier-mâché sculpture
Five axolotls gather around a turquoise tree in this imaginative papier-mâché sculpture by Antonio Alonso of Oaxaca. At the center, the emperor wears a broad, radiating paper headdress, its printed fragments adding unexpected texture to the scene. His warm terracotta coloring and turquoise collar connect him visually with the four musicians arranged around him.
The composition rewards a closer look. Two musicians perch among the curling branches with wind instruments, while two others stand below with drums. Fine white designs decorate their bodies, and orange flowers punctuate the turquoise branches. The figures face one another across the tree, giving the scene the feeling of a performance caught in progress.
Antonio builds the scene upward and outward, balancing the branching tree with the musicians on the black display base. Seen from another angle, figures overlap and new details emerge, making the arrangement as engaging from the sides as it is from the front.
