#14: El Jimador (The Jimador) 2008

Marina Pallares created this small, monochromatic print, probably with a linocut or woodcut technique, which allowed for these bold contrasts. I imagine the artist's hand moving across the block, carving away at the surface to reveal the image of the Jimador, the agave farmer. You can almost feel the artist's focused energy as they chiseled away at the material, a meditative process of removal and revelation. The background of this image feels activated by many strokes. Each stroke feels like the artist decided, after much planning, to just go for it. Pallares is in conversation with other printmakers, maybe Jose Guadalupe Posada, who used printmaking to capture popular culture. The way Pallares uses high contrast reminds me of German Expressionist woodcuts—a shared sense of the world as alive and vibrating.