His face and body appear, in one form or another, in virtually all his works of the past twenty years. Zenil employs his own image to make insightful, often acerbic, commentaries on Mexican society of the late twentieth century. He sets himself up as the object of scrutiny, the receptor of voyeuristic fixation. While Zenil's own body is obviously the focal point of his visual dialogue with the viewer, he treats a wide range of themes in his art. He queries and problematizes issues of nationalism in many drawings and paintings that incorporate the icons of his country, notably the Mexican flag.
Religious imagery is another favorite subject.
The Virgin of Guadalupe occupies pride of place in Zenil's symbolic vocabulary. She is frequently shown together with the artist himself and with his companion, Gerardo Vilchis. The Virgin often appears above them, blessing their union or casting a protective aura around them. The wide range of saints populating Zenil's works attests to his fervent interest in the potent forces of the spiritual world. At the heart of Zenil's imagery, however, is the continuing dilemma of how to define, through visual analogues, his position as a gay man in contemporary Mexican society.