"The Nocturnal Sun" Codex Borgia, sheet 40, brown Print - Limited Edition of 9

“The Nocturnal Sun”, Codex Borgia, sheet 40, digitally displayed by MM on brown background. February 15 2024. The Aztecs were an imperialistic society killing routinely thousands of prisoners as offerings to the gods. Ripping the heart out is the most savage method to kill a living human being. In my work I have always avoided carnage, but this image confronts the viewer with lots of blood. Sometimes the ritual must have turned into an orgy of blood. The red background version illustrates such a frenzy dedicated to the gods. The imagination of the Tlacuilo is fantastic and, quite literally, out of this world. For years I believed the researchers of codices rely only on facts and don’t take into account the magic and mystery of precolonial pictograms. With “Nocturnal Sun” it is evident I was mistaken. The ancient codices that fascinate me most, the Laúd, Fejérváry Mayer and Borgia tell, according to the researcher Elizabeth Hill Boon, “about the invisible world, …the world of divine or spirit beings, of supernatural and cosmic forces.” It would be impossible to explain such concepts without taking into account their magic and divinatory nature. “Nine of the most important priests of Quetzalcoatl and Xolotl, all in black, rip out the nine hearts of the enormous Nocturnal Sun…The body is an immense, devouring darkness, with eyes and teeth on the joints, with hands and feet of a jaguar and the power of a nahual. On its head, neck, knees, ankles and chest shines and pulses the vital force of nine hearts, nine suns, cold and hot, life and death… Once again the main goal is light and life to emerge from darkness and death.” Description taken from the codex Borgia interpretation by Ferdinand Anders, Maarten Jansen and Luis Garcia Reyes titled ”The temples of heaven and darkness”. These experts clearly signal the magical and even psychedelic nature of the ancient supernatural world. .

Printmaking:Digital on Paper

Artist Produced Limited Edition of:9

Size:19.7 W x 19.7 H x 0.1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.