Photos: Love, murder and death, illustrated, at Emmanuel Gallery
José Guadalupe Posada's engravings adorned everything from National Enquirer-style stories of monsters and grisly crimes to devout religious pamphlets. Today, artist Jerry Vigil creates three-dimensional wood carvings that translate Posada's style for a modern age, just as the Mexican engraver translated the day's news into unforgettable illustrations.
The two artists merge in Posada's Broadsheets: Of Love And Betrayal & Posada Inspired, which opened last Friday at Auraria's Emmanuel Gallery.
"This is sort of a ten-year retrospective for me," said Vigil at the opening of the exhibit, which includes Vigil's sculptures of Posada-esque skeletons, along with wooden masks and a 2-D display of Posada's guitar player in traditional papel picado. 
The University of New Mexico University Libraries, Center for Southwest Research This broadsheet depicts the discovery of a monkey-like fetus born in Guadalupe, Mexico.
Posada "began his art during a time in Mexico where there was a lot of upheaval, a lot of social strata," Vigil continued. "And he represents, at least to me, the everyday man's artist. And he created these broadsheets to entertain, enlighten and educate the masses."
Added Emmanuel Gallery director Shannon K. Corrigan, "A lot of his audience was illiterate, so he had to be able to translate specifically and boil it down to what the article was about."
Courtesy Jerry Vigil 'El Pachuco'
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