This Chicano Codex Coloring book is for both children and adults. This codex reflex on the deer and the medicine of the deer. The codex coloring book series are recalling, exploring and expanding the codices left behind by our ancestors. The imagery found in these texts are inspired by azteca, maya, toltecs, yaqui images but inspire the individual to continue to create not simply copy ancestral work. If we are to continue to thrive, identify and redefine the imagery and meaning left behind by our predecessors we have to re-evision, adapt and create new codices.
About the Author: Israel Francisco Haros Lopez is both a visual artist and performance artist.He was born and raised in East Los Angeles, graduated from Roosevelt High School with a 1.59 G.P.A. He is a graduate of Laney and Vista Community College with an A.A. in English Literature . Survided UC Berkeley with a degree in English and Xikan@ Studies and recieved an M.F.A. from California College of the Arts. His work is an attempt to search for personal truths and personal histories inside of american cosmology. The american cosmology and symbolism that he is drawing from is one that involves both northern and southern america that was here before columbus. The work both written and that which is painted is attempting to mark and remark historical points in the americas and the world.The mark making attempts to speak to the undeniable presence of a native america that will continue to flourish for generations to come.The understanding which he is drawing from is not conceptual but fact and points to the importance of honoring and remembering ancestral ways of living as a means of maintaining healthy relations with all humans, the winged, all those that crawl on this Earth, all Life, the Water, the Sacred Fire, Tonanztin, Tonatiuh, the Sacred Cardinal Points, everything inbetween, above and below and at the center of self and all things in the universe. Currently the visual motifs are drawn from both a pre-columbian america that had far far less physical, mental or spiritual borders . He also draws inspriation from the contemporary styles of inner city youth who use public space by any means necessary as their method of artistic expression. Israel also draws much of his inspiration from his peers and contemporaries who constantly show him innovative ways to approach cultural and political dilemnas. The written words cannot be without the painted image. The painted image cannot be without words. Neither the written work or visual work can be without sound without vibration, as all things on this earth carry vibration. As such his written and oral work is constantly shifting as it is performed or recording. The same poem, story, monologue or abstract diatribe shifts within the space it is performed taking into consideration audience and the theatrics and vibration of the moment. www.waterhummingbirdhous