Rings of Life
Artist
Benito Huerta
(American, born 1952)
Date1998
Mediumthree color lithograph
DimensionsImage: 8 1/4 × 7 in. (21 × 17.8 cm)
Support: 20 1/2 × 17 in. (52.1 × 43.2 cm)
Support: 20 1/2 × 17 in. (52.1 × 43.2 cm)
ClassificationsGraphic
Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds from the Herzstein Family Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2023
Object number2023.3.1
DescriptionTwo overlapping circular forms on very thin paper. The top ring made up of several objects, including a cartoon duck, a domino, and a Mexican mask. The bottom ring is made of a snake biting its tail.eMuseum Notes
Rings of Life is an autobiographical image that speaks to artist Benito Huerta’s Anglo-Latin heritage. Two linked rings include a variety of images, all of which have personal significance to the artist: a domino, a cartoon duck and dog, an animal skull, a Mexican mask, and the ouroboros, a symbol of death and rebirth in which a snake bites its own tail.
Huerta earned his Master of Arts from New Mexico State University in 1978 and spent much of his career as both a studio artist. In 1997, he became director and curator of the Center for Research in Contemporary Art (now The Gallery) at the University of Texas at Arlington. Rings of Life was completed shortly after Huerta appointment.
On View
Not on view
Tom Chambers
2010 (printed 2011)
