Tlalmanalco V 1975

Curator: Leonard Lehrer created "Tlalmanalco V" in 1975, a linocut and ink print. Editor: Wow, there's a serious gravitas here. All that cross-hatching makes it look like an ancient rubbing, a somber narrative rising up from stone. Curator: Lehrer, as an artist deeply invested in process, often chose materials and techniques that inherently carry historical and social weight. The linocut itself, being a relief printing technique, encourages a tactile engagement. Its accessibility has linked it to popular movements and dissemination of ideas. Editor: It certainly does feel like something unearthed, and weighty—emotionally too. I'm getting a very strong memento mori vibe from the skull prominently displayed between these figures. Who are they though? Curator: Indeed. Note the juxtaposition of the skeletal remains, the rather militant looking figure on the left, and the childlike figure opposite. There's definitely a commentary on power, mortality, and perhaps the cyclical nature of life and death here. It functions almost like a history painting compressed into a small print. Editor: Interesting how Lehrer’s mark-making gives them such distinct personalities even in the monochromatic palette. And those stylized floral motifs around the figures almost mock the grim scene; a morbid embellishment. Curator: Right, I think examining Lehrer’s choice to use accessible printmaking for complex subjects highlights an important aspect of art production in that era. The work challenges a clear separation between popular, accessible printmaking and traditional, inaccessible history painting. The image circulated, becoming accessible to a much broader audience. Editor: It makes you wonder who was actually encountering art like this. Not displayed in a fancy salon, it’s an item exchanged perhaps at political meetings or activist cells. An exchange beyond decoration, closer to knowledge sharing or cultural resistance. Curator: Precisely. Reflecting on "Tlalmanalco V", the artist shows how the means of art production shapes how art reaches the public, as well as its potential influence on discourse and action. Editor: It's a really captivating work! It gives us something tangible to link what we believe, who we are and what we create, with the weight and inevitability of time.