CONCEPT
This series consists of thirteen large-scale oil paintings that draw a parallel portraying capitalism as an unquestioned dogma—a secular faith in which existence is reduced to consumption. The works evoke the style of corporate portraits, yet their protagonists appear with heads of powerful animals, symbols acting as masks and emblems that reveal hidden hierarchies and impulses. The ironic use of advertising mascots and logos reinforces the allegory: capital is personified, clothed in authority, and established as an unchallengeable power.
Arámbula suggests that the “beast” is not an external entity but a collective construct sustained by faith in the market. Like any dogma, its power lies in widespread acceptance—a creed that orders the world yet subjects it to an inhuman and unnatural logic.
At the center stands a pelican, an animal rich in symbolic meaning. In Christian tradition, the pelican is associated with Jesus due to the ancient belief that, lacking food, the bird would wound itself to feed its young with its blood, symbolizing sacrifice and devotion. This piece recontextualizes Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi: the pelican appears in a similar pose, holding a crystal ball representing knowledge, within which is the World Bank logo. Through this, the series critiques the new messianic figure of global capitalism, which claims control and truth under the guise of salvation and absolute power.
Together, the series invites viewers to question the narratives we legitimize as universal truths and reflect on the invisible structures shaping our social reality. By unveiling the masks of the “beast,” Arámbula confronts us with the collective responsibility to rethink the dogmas that govern our era and their ethical and existential implications.
