Tony Mendoza, "Halloween 1998. Lydia wanted to be Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile"

Tony Mendoza

Halloween 1998. Lydia wanted to be Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile.

Archival pigment print on Canson Baryta Paper

Price range: $300 through $670

Tony Mendoza’s Lydia and Halloween series features his daughter, Lydia, in four different Halloween costumes chronicled throughout her life.  Mendoza hand-dates each of his editions based off the year the photograph was taken rather than the year it was printed.

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Year
2014
Edition of
50
Dimensions
24 x 20 inches
Authentication

Signed, numbered, and dated by the artist on the reverse. All Haystack editions come with a Certificate of Authenticity.

About the Artwork

Tony Mendoza’s Lydia and Halloween series features his daughter, Lydia, in four different Halloween costumes chronicled throughout her life.  Mendoza hand-dates each of his editions based off the year the photograph was taken rather than the year it was printed. The artist also includes a brief description beneath each image, providing viewers with a short story within his greater concept.

An experienced printer himself, each print in the Lydia and Halloween series was printed by the artist. Every Archival Pigment Print was digitally printed with a lab-calibrated inkjet printer using pigment-based inks (this process is also known as Giclée printing). Canson Baryta Paper was specifically developed for inkjet technology and offers the look and feel of an original darkroom print, making it an ideal choice for black and white photography.

 

Curator's Note

In this episode from the Lydia and Halloween series, Mendoza’s daughter Lydia strikes a powerful pose. Gazing up from under makeup-enhanced eyelids, she puts one hand on her waist as the other alights on a pedestal.

Mendoza captures the defiance in his nine-year-old, a characteristic of the queen she imitates. Stark contrasts between the highlights of the tunic and the shadows of the background punch up this photograph, as do the glistening fabrics of her costume.

About the Artist

Tony Mendoza

Tony Mendoza (b.1941, Havana, Cuba) is a visual and verbal storyteller. Underneath his photographs he will often write a brief anecdote, sometimes as few as five words, both witty and sincere. He trains his lens mainly on people, with the occasional dog or cat.

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