Haunting and humorous: Brandon Maldonado's works speak to themes of death that resonate today

An admirer once told Brandon Maldonado his skeletons looked more alive than the living.

The Albuquerque artist’s Day of the Dead imagery synthesizes traditional santero aesthetics, tumbling geometry, cubism and Catholic retablos into a fusion both haunting and humorous.

Maldonado’s work can be seen at Santa Fe’s Hecho a Mano gallery through Dec. 1.

Haunting and humorous: Brandon Maldonado's works speak to themes of death that resonate today

He brings his own lens to the traditions, speaking to themes of death that resonate today: school shootings, the pandemic and the always looming possibility of nuclear war.

His acrylic paintings celebrate death as a part of life, while offering brutal commentary on issues such as the violence of Mexican cartels and New Mexico’s nuclear legacy.

Maldonado grew up in Westgate in an environment of graffiti and skateboards.

“Georgia O’Keeffe was very romanticized as far as I was concerned,” he said. “It wasn’t what I’d seen on the street.”

He began painting at the age of 20 with no formal training. He began researching books about the classic santeros and the work of the Mexican political printmaker José Guadalupe Posada.

“I was seeing a lot of patterns — the wavy lines came from santero stuff,” Maldonado said. “I saw the visual work of the Day of the Dead designs. It’s something about simplifying the form.”

“My most well-known image was a Day of the Dead in 2009 that appeared on a Zac Brown album,” Maldonado said. “He just went into a shop in Old Town and liked the work.”

Maldonado also gets personal.

His “Death of Leroy the Foo-Dog” is a tribute to the late animal, cradled by an Indigenous figure. Maldonado twisted her hair into a candelabra or tree of life shape.

“With the commercialization (of Day of the Dead), we tend to forget that this is immortalizing people,” he said.

The undulating lines represent rhythms — repetitive patterns, he added.

With its saguaro cactus on the horizon, the skull of “El Desierto” speaks to the deaths at the border.

“Greetings from New Mexico” steals from Pablo Picasso’s masterpiece “Guernica.”

“I turned the figures at the bottom into Japanese,” he said. “It’s a memorial to World War II.”

“Narco Corridos” speaks to the Mexican cartel violence. Santa Muerte cradles a dead cartel member beneath a trinity of musicians.

“From Death Comes Life” and “Punk Rock Serenade” reflect one another, Maldonado said.

“The punk rocker with the guitar is seeing the girl in ‘From Death Comes Life.’”

For Maldonado, creating Day of the Dead imagery is to reclaim his heritage.

“It’s a very strong cultural custom to tell the story of the mystery of life,” he said. “In American culture, we don’t affirm that.”

After working in the Albuquerque Public Schools library for eight years, Maldonado became a full-time artist in 2008.

“I try to make it whimsical and fun,” he said.