Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry...

I bet it gives little kids nightmares.

Alebrijes are brightly-colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures. Pedro Linares first used the term to describe his papier mache creations; it is also now commonly used in reference to the Oaxacan woodcarvings popularized by Manuel Jimenez.

Pedro Linares started out as a common papier mache artist who eked out a living on the outskirts of Mexico City by making traditional piñatas, carnival masks, and Judas dolls for local fiestas. In the 1930s, he broke from tradition and started creating elaborate decorative pieces that represented imaginary creatures he called alebrijes. Inspired by a dream when he fell ill at age 30, these papier mache sculptures were brightly-painted with intricate patterns and frequently featured wings, horns, tails, fierce teeth, and bulgy eyes.

Manuel Jiménez is recognized founder of folk art woodcarving in Oaxaca. Like Linares, Jimenez progressed from carving simple pieces in the local tradition to creating internationally-recognized works of art. Inspired by the woodcarving of fellow Oaxacan Don Pascual Santiago and the papier mache work of Pedro Linares (whom he met during a trip organized by the Mexican Government to promote handcrafts), Jimenez began carving stylized monkeys (monos) and other creatures in the 1960s. His critical and financial success spawned a new industry for small villages in one of Mexico's poorest regions. There are now over 200 woodcarving families concentrated in the villages San Antonio Arrazola, San Martin Tilcajete, La Union Tejalapa, and San Pedro Cajonos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alebrije

And yaaaaa! for Oaxaca! I'm so glad they have another way to maintain financial independence. I've been to a couple of presentations by the Mexican Solidarity Network. They mostly focused on the beautiful weaving.

:hi:

The art is also really interesting. Is the one in the lower right headless?

Also, the history behind the pieces is much appreciated. For strange items like this, it's always fantastic learning about the origin/meaning of the subjects of the photographs.

The alebrije in the lower right corner is headless due to the photographer, not the artist. It is a floppy eared dog. The green you see in the picture is actually the ear, the dog's face is outside the picture frame.

:hi:

Is each piece individually titled?

Only the possum (not shown in picture) is named by the artist ("autor") and signed with the artists name (Armando Jiminez) also. The dog and the dragon have only the artists names, and both cats have nothing on them at all as they must be done by "lesser" artists. The picture of the Dragon is not that good both in showing color and the intricacies of the dragon carving and the possum doesn't appear at all.

I'll post a picture of the possum later.