Ricardo Mazal (b. 1950, Mexico City), one of Mexico’s most prominent contemporary artists, is known for his lush abstract oil paintings in which he explores spiritual themes.
He is perhaps best known for his near decade-long investigations into the sacred burial rituals of diverse cultures, from the Mayan Tomb of the Red Queen in Palenque, Mexico, to the Buddhist prayer flags of Bhutan. These studies yielded a succession of large, multidisciplinary bodies of work reflective of the artist’s observations. However, recent bodies of work, Full Circle and The Diamond Series, are imbued with a more personal narrative, as Mazal increasingly transitions from witness to author.
Ricardo Mazal has exhibited extensively in museums and galleries throughout the Americas, Asia and Europe. Since 2000, he has had five museum retrospectives: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (2000); Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City (2006); Museo de Arte, Querétaro, Mexico (2009); Museo de Arte Abstracto Manuel Felguérez, Zacatecas, Mexico (2010); and the Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe (2018). His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe (2002 and 2004); Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City (2004–2005); Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (2006); Centro de las Artes, Monterrey, Mexico (2006); the Mexican Cultural Institute, Washington, DC (2008); and the Centro Cultural Estación Indianilla, Mexico City (2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020). His work was also showcased in group exhibitions at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (2016); and Frontiers Reimagined at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015).
Mazal’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota; Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; Museo de Arte Abstracto Manuel Felguérez, Zacatecas, Mexico; Fondation Maeght, Paris; Centro de las Artes, Monterrey, Mexico; Cirque du Soleil, Montreal; The Peninsula Hotel, Shanghai; and Deutsche Bank, New York and Germany.
Ricardo Mazal lives and works in Mexico City, Santa Fe and New York.
