The Queue: Roberto Benavidez
The Queue: Roberto Benavidez
The Queue: Roberto Benavidez
Roberto Benavidez with some of his piñata creations in his Los Angeles home studio. Photo by Roberto Benavidez.
Roberto Benavidez’s bold, playful piñatas of fantastical creatures celebrate hybridity in nature—and in life.
For the past 15 years, Roberto Benavidez has been building elaborately decorated piñatas that riff on sexuality, race, Catholicism, nature, and beauty. Inspired by the hedonistic denizens of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights and the fanciful creatures in the margins of medieval manuscripts, he transforms crepe paper into scales, feathers, and textures for his hollow papier-mâché creatures. Birds with half-missing beaks, rabbits with deer legs, armless frogs, and spiky-tailed squirrels are just a few of the oddities in his piñata menagerie. Benavidez, a Mexican American from South Texas who currently lives in Los Angeles, considers these “half-breeds” as central to his work: “I think of the hybrid creatures in this painting as a subtle reference to myself being mixed-race,” he says. His work has been widely collected and exhibited, and this June and July, he will show new abstract piñatas in a group exhibition called Passion for Paper at the Strohl Art Center in Chautauqua, New York. Paola Singer wrote about his fantastical visions in paper in “Raising the Piñata” in the Spring 2024 issue of American Craft.
Benavidez took inspiration from this rainbow zebra-shaped piñata, made by Brian Anderson of pinataboy.com. Photo by Brian Anderson.
How do you describe your work or practice in 50 words or less?
My art practice is piñata-based, which means I create sculptures using the piñata-making technique and materials and incorporate aspects of the multicultural and religious history of the piñata into the work. My goal is to expand the breadth of what a piñata can be for the viewer.
You say that you want to elevate the piñata and make viewers consider the artistry of it. Tell us about a piñata or piñata artist that made you reconsider the form.
I came across a piñata online in 2009 that struck me as quite sculptural, something I had not really considered about this craft. It was a colorful zebra piñata on pinataboy.com. The more I explored the paper medium, the more I realized you can create anything with paper.
The figures in your piñatas originate from sources such as Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights and the marginalia of medieval manuscripts such as the Luttrell Psalter. What other texts and images do you draw inspiration from?
Most of my bird works are inspired by birds in nature, but I also use 19th-century bird drawings by John J. Audubon as inspiration. I enjoy taking his vignettes and tweaking them just a bit to fit into my series that focus on sexuality and race.
Piñatas are traditionally an ephemeral art form, though yours are not made to be destroyed or whacked. How do you ensure longevity with your work?
The paper I use is predominantly acid free, as is the white PVA glue I use for papier-mâché and as my adhesive. Even though I use archival materials, ultimately it’s up to the collector to ensure an ideal environment for paper art by keeping it away from sunlight, moisture, and extreme temperatures.
You work from home and live with your piñata creatures surrounding you. What other craft art lives in your home? How does it influence your work?
The craft art I have in my home was made by craft-artist friends. I have ceramics from Mark Mitchell, a fox made from trash by Calder Kamin, and a ceramic cat made by Phoebe Millerwhite. While they don’t necessarily influence my work, they definitely bring life into my home.
Which craft artists, exhibitions, or projects do you think the world should know about, and why?
Diedrick Brackens is weaving some amazing textile work, and Tiffanie Turner is creating some extraordinarily massive paper flowers from crepe paper. Both artists incorporate rich symbolism into their work, making it so complex. Calder Kamin sculpts amazingly beautiful creatures from trash to educate her audience on reuse, an important topic today.
After his Paper Bird and Birdr series—showing same-sex bird couplings—were featured in a wildlife magazine, Benavidez has been commissioned to make bird piñatas, such as Abstract No. 4, 2023, paper, paperboard, crepe paper, glue, wire, 13 x 12 x 7 in. Photo by Roberto Benavidez.
Benavidez makes Illuminated Piñata No. 21, 2024, paper, paperboard, crepe paper, glue, wire, 20 x 39 x 10 in. Photo by James Bernal.
Benavidez applies layers of hand-cut crepe paper to the papier-mâché form of Illuminated Piñata No. 21. Photo by Roberto Benavidez.
The creature in Illuminated Piñata No. 21 chows down on a forbidden hard candy. Photo by Roberto Benavidez.
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