Framed Day of the Dead Artwork
The Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrated annually much like Halloween, but while Halloween is about warding away bad spirits, the Day of the Dead, or Dia De Los Meurtos, is about remembering our loved ones who are lost from us. This three day celebration is highly decorated and the framed Day of the Dead art capture the vibrancy and macabre quality of this holiday.
The most iconic symbol of this holiday is the skull, generally it is a sugar skull that is consumed as a special treat but also left on the graves of loved ones. So, understandably, much of the artwork surrounding this holiday features framed Day of the Dead calavera skull art. The Sugar Skull candy itself is bright and colourful and the decorations are too and so are the artworks such as Dean Russo’s piece “Sugar Skull – Day of the Dead”, as is Kerri Ambrosino’s piece “Aster Calavera”. In contrast, Jill Ankrom’s piece “Dia de Los Meurtos” is a rather dark in comparison. There is some colour in reds and oranges but it is all set on a plain black background.
Although not as prominent as the sugar skull, the Mexican marigold is one of the main symbols of the holiday. It has a strikingly bright colour like flames and the dense orange and yellow petals add to this effect. Marigolds, hence, figures prominently in much framed Day of the Dead Dia De Los Meurtos artwork. It forms the background to Jeff Maraska’s piece “Day of the Dead 1” and in Kerri Ambrosino’s piece “Calavera de Marinero” the marigolds petals form part of the skull’s eyes.
The characters of this holiday are the skeletons but also the Catrina figures both in full fleshed life as well as her own skeleton form. Probably Heather Galler’s series of works displays the best of framed Day of the Dead Catrina art including portraits of Catrina in “Day of the Dead 2” and “Day of the Dead 9”, with her skeleton main in “Day of the Dead 10” and “Day of the Dead 13” but also as her own skeleton self in “Day of the Dead 1”.