Greatly influenced by the visual language of his native Mexico, Ricardo Mazal pursues “the spiritual in art” through projects like “A Trilogy of Burials” (2009-10), a series incorporating abstract paintings, digital photographs, and multimedia images that reflect on the issue of mortality as addressed by different cultures. Seeking visceral reactions, his works are generally rendered in black and white with traces of accent color, or vibrant monochromatic hues, especially blood-red; he often color-blocks in the vein of Piet Mondrian, and text and typography are integral to his practice. Many of Mazal’s paintings are said to evoke photographic images of speeding objects blurred to abstraction, exploring the processes of visual perception. “True abstraction,” he says, “moves beyond the specific and concrete, and allows for a flexible, endlessly evolving language that engages the eye, intellect, and emotions all at once.”