El Ángel Exterminador

Named after Luis Buñuel’s 1962 surrealist masterpiece about bourgeois dinner guests who find themselves mysteriously unable to leave a room, El Ángel Exterminador translates that sense of elegant entrapment into visual terms. Animals—rendered with striking naturalism—are positioned against sumptuous backgrounds of damask, velvet, and ornate wallpaper.

These are not traditional wildlife portraits. The creatures appear simultaneously dignified and trapped, their presence in these luxurious domestic settings suggesting both elevation and confinement. Like Buñuel’s characters, they inhabit spaces of privilege that have become psychological prisons.

The rich patterns and textures of the backgrounds—meticulously painted to capture every fold and flourish—create an almost suffocating density. Beauty becomes oppressive, refinement becomes constraint. Through this series, Fikl explores themes of domestication, social hierarchy, and the price of civilization, all while demonstrating his virtuosic command of oil painting technique.