• Roberto creates contemporary piñata sculptures using traditional methods
• Vibrant colours and elaborate, textural layering are hallmarks of his pieces
• He often depicts fantastical creatures inspired by medieval paintings and texts

Roberto Benavidez brings the surreal creatures from Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings and the edges of illuminated manuscripts to life as piñatas. With these colourful, three-dimensional hybrid creatures, he transforms the ephemeral Mexican craft into paper sculptures exhibited in galleries and collected by museums. Roberto’s pieces explore themes related to his biracial Mexican-Anglo heritage, queer identity, nature and beauty. Beginning with simple balloons, printer paper and glue, he adds details to his papier mâché forms with paperboard and wire. Roberto then layers hand cut crepe paper on the forms with painstaking precision, blending colours much as a painter would to create shadows and suggest surface depth. “For me, it is about the materials and how well I work with them. There are many possibilities within the form and I am expanding what it can be,” he says.