intricate carving

Carved by hand of copal wood, a majestic bull lays down to rest in this traditional folk art alebrije sculpture from Mexico. Artisan duo Eugenia and Roberto Sosa create the sculpture, painting it by hand with amazingly intricate motifs in black and white.

Alebrijes are a fairly recent Mexican art form, attributed to Pedro Linares. Unconscious due to illness in 1936, he was presumed near death and yet his dreams were extremely vivid. He tells of a place where all was peaceful and quiet until all of a sudden there appeared a lion with an eagle's head, a rooster with bull's horns and a donkey with butterfly wings. They kept screeching "alebrije, alebrije!" and Pedro began running away. He encountered a man who told him it was not yet his time to be there are and he should continue running towards the exit. In this dream Pedro climbed out of a window and regained consciousness.