JJRM Barro Betus Nagual Bull — Signed Ramos Medrano, Mexico

A hand-sculpted and hand-painted barro betus bull by Juan José Ramos Medrano — signed "J.J.R.M. / MEXICO" on the underside — working in the tradition of Santa Cruz de las Huertas, Jalisco. The figure is posed in a full charging stance, head driven low, with broad brown horns sweeping outward from a wide, expressive muzzle detailed with pink-painted nostrils and mouth. Seven teat-like protrusions rise from the dorsal ridge in place of a conventional spine, each painted white with bold black banding — an anatomical inversion that places female bovine anatomy above and male below, with articulating testicles freely suspended from the belly. Six three-dimensional flower rosettes — two red, two blue, two yellow — are applied in relief to both flanks, each individually hand-painted with contrasting petal detail. The body is finished in a Holstein-style black-and-white pattern over the characteristic warm ivory clay body of the barro betus tradition.

This piece is best understood through the lens of the Nagual — the shape-shifting supernatural figure that anchors Juan José's artistic vision. A Nagual is a being that moves between natural categories: animal and fantastical, male and female, real and transformed. The anatomical inversions here are not incidental; they are the subject.

About the Artist

Juan José Ramos Medrano — who signs his work J.J.R.M. — works from a home studio in Santa Cruz de las Huertas, a small community on the outskirts of Tonalá, Jalisco, at the heart of Mexico's most storied ceramics region. He is the grandson of Candelario Medrano (1918–1986), the self-taught master whose fantastical clay sculptures entered the Nelson Rockefeller Collection and the permanent holdings of museums across Mexico, the United States, and Europe. Juan José carries that inheritance directly — one expert in the field, shown his work without the signature, attributed it immediately to Candelario. Only the initials on the base gave the generation away.

His medium is barro betus: low-fired earthenware hand-kneaded, painted, and finished with a coating of birch resin oil that gives the surface its characteristic warm luster. The process is unhurried and deeply physical — the kiln is prepared days in advance, fired slowly to protect the fragile clay body. Juan José is not a prolific artist. Pieces are made in small numbers, and visits to his studio often find little available. When work does surface in the market, collectors who know the tradition move quickly.

His subjects draw from the Nagual — the shape-shifting supernatural figure of Mexican folk belief, a being that moves fluidly between animal, human, and fantastical forms. This animating idea gives his sculptures their edge: creatures that transgress natural categories, where anatomy is rearranged not by accident but by intent. His work has been recognized in national competitions and is held in the permanent collection of the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas.

CONDITION

Good. The piece is structurally intact and presents with strong visual impact from all angles; the applied flower rosettes retain vivid color and the Holstein patterning reads cleanly. 

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Height: 12"
• Width: 8"
• Length: 18"
• Artist: Juan José Ramos Medrano (JJRM)
• Lineage: Grandson of Candelario Medrano (1918–1986)
• Origin: Santa Cruz de las Huertas, Jalisco, Mexico
• Tradition: Barro Betus — low-fired earthenware with birch resin finish
• Technique: Hand-sculpted, hand-painted
• Signature: "J.J.R.M. / MEXICO" — hand-written on underside
• Notable features: Articulating testicles; inverted dorsal udder ridge; applied relief flower rosettes (red, blue, yellow); Nagual anatomical inversion
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale