Creator of life and beings in his image and likeness but with freedom of expression and movement... Are you God? 

Nah, it's about Hermes Arroyo, creator of mojigangas, those 4-meter-tall anthropomorphic beings who like salsa and town parties until late at night, livening up the social life of San Miguel de Allende. 

Despite their enormous size, the monkeys find graceful movements when joining the party. One might think that it is simple folklore but for their creator, these beings are pure art-object since they are born from his need to reflect the socio-political situation that exists at a given moment. 

Just as cinema and theatre are cathartic needs for people, the art of mojigangas is also a form of expression to be able to transmit their reality to people and sublimate it through play. 

Not for nothing did the people of Subcomandante Marcos himself commission him to make gigantic monkeys of this symbolic figure. Beyond the playful and festive aspect, the mojigangas have a message of hyperreality. 

One could find several curious similarities in the art of drag queen with the mojigangas, such as taking a character from the popular imagination and reinterpreting it in an exaggerated but subtle way for an honest and fun performance at the same time, like the designs of Hermes. 

Something that characterizes their monkeys are the notable feminine attributes they possess, such as huge breasts that enhance the female figure and empower women to feel proud of their bodies, taking away the irreverence and normalizing it and scandalizing some ladies in the process, of course! 

And although some people with more conservative tendencies may find Hermes' art somewhat offensive, it would not be art if it did not provoke some reaction in the viewer. The artist always seeks to provoke and invite reflection through art made with cardboard. 

Cardboard has remained in the life of Mexico in a very long-lasting and playful way since the times of the Porfiriato and as a means to generate art and the possibility of working with very simple and unrefined materials. It is not for nothing that Hermes and his workshop have been transmitting their message in a concise manner for more than 35 years. 

And despite having been able to have the type of reactions previously mentioned by objectifying them and treating them as “immodest women”, Hermes’s antics invite us to emulate the philosophy of life of figures like La Doña when she was criticized but admired for speaking the truth without mincing words. We certainly need more figures like María Félix and a world with more antics.

What it is all about here is making mischief through art and breaking away from the status quo, and while Hermes has achieved this to exhaustion, he would now like to evolve with a new installation concept: 

A large-scale tour inside the colossal and titanic figure of the entrails of the mojiganga; not showing it finished but allowing the spectator to navigate through its labyrinthine structure and breathe and see through its eyes is something that the artist would love to create and if we are lucky, we may be able to see this installation one day inside and outside of San Miguel. 

Giving birth to a character from the imagination is a laudable task to which Hermes has dedicated his life thanks to two tricks under his belt: magic and skill, and it is with this that we hope to continue seeing the evolution of his humanoid monkeys that mirror us all the time.