The Archway Ofrendas

The Archway Ofrendas is a series of five mixed-media panels serving as reliquaries dedicated to the five owners of the brewery where the works were displayed. Each piece blends collage and painting, with a central portrait of an owner backed by radiant gold leaf, reminiscent of religious iconography. The portraits are framed within an archway, where a pentagram—an ancient symbol of unity and hidden knowledge—serves as the focal point, evoking the esoteric nature of brewing itself, where elemental forces transform humble grains into something transcendent.

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The collage elements, composed of tabloid paper and reconstructed black-and-white prints of massive fermentation vessels and mash machines, offer a subtle nod to the industrial alchemy of the brewing process. The panels are further imbued with elemental associations: air (yellow), fire (red), water (blue), earth (green), and spirit (white), each represented through color and symbolic materiality.

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Before each panel stood a small ofrenda—an offering of reverence—featuring a wooden cube, a glass reagent bottle filled with colored grain, and a hexagram star candle holder, all color-coded to match the corresponding element. During the exhibition, the candles were lit daily, and patrons were encouraged to leave offerings, transforming the space into a participatory ritual of honor and devotion.

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In Archway Ofrendas, the tradition of the ofrenda—a sacred offering typically reserved for Día de los Muertos altars—was reimagined as a living tribute. Here, the reverence was directed not toward the departed, but toward the living figures who shaped the brewery’s spirit. Through its fusion of religious symbolism, alchemical references, and ritualistic participation, the series blurred the line between art and sacred space, transforming the brewery into a temple of craft and tribute.​