Mogollon Hero

The A.I.C. just opened a special exhibit of pottery made by people who lived about a thousand years ago in the areas now called Arizona, northern Mexico, and New Mexico.



This is the piece that caught my attention on the first visit -- a hunter-hero, wearing a fish-swallowing-heron on his head -- with an assistant who carries a rabbit head. It is classic Mimbres, 950-1150 A.D., from New Mexico.




This powerful, rhythmic drawing is what captures me (as well, I suppose, as the small game that he hunts) -- made with all the focus and precison that hunting requires.

This is a no nonsense world -- the immersion is complete -- the focus is unbroken -- the purpose is direct -- and his arrow never misses.

And ..he's kind of a cute young guy, isn't he ? He's fleet of foot -- eyes wide open -- missing nothing -- his lithe body coiled like a spring -- and his world spins around with him at the center. He's Isao -- the hero of Mishima's novel, "Runaway Horses", and powerful capitalists (as well as rabbits, heron, and deer) had better beware.



(I wish this piece went on permanent display -- it's several notches above what the museum shows from its own collection)