THE “CLOUD PEOPLE” OF OAXACA Something ancient. And mystical. Something familial. And familiar. Those somethings whisper from the state of Oaxaca, 300 miles south of Mexico City, where the Mixteca people, once the major players in Mesoamerica, built a thriving civilization whose name means “cloud people” in the indigenous language of Nahuatl. It is from […]
TO BREAK DOWN WALLS Edgar Flores, aka Saner, paints in a small upstairs room in his suburban enclave outside Mexico City, where light pours in from a wall of windows. He has painted murals and participated in exhibitions everywhere from Morocco to Arkansas, combining contemporary Mexican and ancient Aztec and Mayan iconography with local history […]
SURREALISM WITH MEXICAN ELEMENTS José Parra started as an apprentice at his father’s studio in Guadalajara at the age of 16. He was able to develop his own compositions always influenced by the Spanish baroque sculpture, paintings and furniture manufactured at the family’s studio. He lived in Puerto Vallarta for short periods where he was […]
ANTHROPOMORPHIC CREATURES Since finishing studies in Graphic Design, Gustavo Díaz Montañez –Tavo Montañez as ‘nom de plume’– is a freelance illustrator living and working in Aguascalientes, Mexico. As an illustrator, he usually start the creative process with some notes and sketches in his Moleskine sketchbook. He like to work in analog mediums, mainly pencil and […]
CONTEMPORARY SURREALISM AND MEXICAN CULTURE Gustavo Rimada’s paintings are full of bold colors, stylized skulls and faces with high cheekbones and sharp eyes. “It’s sort of a blend between contemporary lowbrow and modern, and it’s starting to take more of a surreal aspect,” Rimada said. “I’ll start presenting it as surrealism now — a contemporary […]
THE ‘CHIAROSCURO’ OF A SURREAL PAINTER Mexican artist Ricardo Fernández Ortega’s way of adding and subtracting light and carefully controlling rich dark, luscious tones resembles great 17th century Spanish masters such as Diego Velazquez. His intuitive ways of using lights and darks (chiaroscuro), takes us to a mysterious, sometimes surreal space, where women wear elegant […]
