Lot 116: Mexican Folk Art Wood Alejibre

History: The origin of the Alebrijes can be traced to Pedro Linares, an artist who lived in Mexico City in the 1930s. Linares said that in 1936 he was very ill and then became unconscious. While in a state of unconsciousness, he began to hallucinate and see visions of a forest with strange animals. Alebrijes (Spanish pronunciation: [aleˈβɾixes]) are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical (fantasy/mythical) creatures. The first alebrijes, along with the invention of the term, originated with Mexico City cartonero Pedro Linares. Linares often told that in 1936, he fell very ill, and while he was in bed unconscious, he dreamt of a strange place resembling a forest. There, he saw trees, rocks, clouds that suddenly turned into something strange, and some kind of animals but unknown animals. He saw "a donkey with butterfly wings, a rooster with bull horns, and a lion with an eagle head", and all of them were shouting one word, "Alebrijes! Alebrijes! Alebrijes!"[citation needed] Before this happened, he was already a cartonero artisan. Upon recovery, he began recreating the creatures he had seen in cartonería, the making of three-dimensional sculptures with different types of papers, strips of papers and engrudo (glue made out of wheat flour and water).