Shalako, which depicts an annual A:shiwi (Zuni) winter festival, is an action-packed, tremendously detailed painting. In it, Jose Rey Toledo captures everything from the central dancers’ movements and regalia to the backdrop with supreme precision. Notice the fine lines delineating each individual bead on the dancers’ necklaces, how headdress feathers have been colored one by one, and how the artist renders the fringe of the woven sashes worn by the two dancers on the left with pinpoint-size brushstrokes. Behind them, more than two dozen onlookers are individually represented, each with distinct facial features, clothing, and postures. Toledo’s meticulousness even extends to the background, where each element is finely articulated, including the perched owl’s feathers.
