Killer Piñatas In Aquatic Environments. Paper Sculptures from Under The Sea.

Paper Sculpture Killer Pinatas
Rodolfo Moraga, Gabe as Yaws, 40″ x 60″ photograph, hand constructed shark piñata and environment

“The Role of Piñatas” is a contemporary photography installation by Rodolfo Moraga that mixes, sculpture, live dioramas, video, sound and photography. Most impressive are the five large-scale photographic images of custom constructed papier-maché pinatas in aquatic habitats. The titles of the pieces subtly reference everything from JAWS to underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau.

Paper Sculptures from Under The Sea

Great White Shark piñata
detail of the Great White Shark piñata in Gabe As Yaws

Moraga gathered friends and artists to construct the large papier-mache killer whales, penguins, great white shark, yellow submarine and mermaid tail. Upon completion, he carefully reconstructed natural environments using similar techniques and materials and shot a series of photographs with interactive models for each sculpture.

Nico as Jack:
Paper Sculptures from Under The Sea

Nico as Jack, detail:
penguin pinatas

Ani as Willy:

Ani as Willy, detail:
The Role of Piñatas

Francis as Steve:
aquatic pinatas

Marie as Ariel:
mermaid pinata tail

Below are images from the November 2011 exhibit at Canada’s Coat Check Gallery

The Role of Piñatas

Rodolfo Moraga was born in 1982 in Guatemala where he later left to study photography in Montpellier, France. The Role of Pinatas is Moraga’s first solo exhibition in Canada, so naturally we are very excited to present it to the supporters and interested onlookers of emergent creative talent.

“I am searching for something irreversible, both in the effects of cultural diversity on individual personality and in the basis of my own creation. An evolution in it’s most volatile form, questioning the social references that force themselves into the sensibility of the human eye.” – Rodolfo Moraga


Rodolfo Moraga