Zalathiel Vargas

Happy Birthday Zalathiel Vargas!

Underground comic illustrator Zalathiel Vargas was born in Mexico City where he still lives and works today. In high school, Zalathiel worked in a printshop but spent his free time drawing illustrations of the neighborhood. He planned on going into mathematics but took a painting class and changed his course. After graduating in 1963 he studied on scholarship in Paris and traveled extensively in Europe.

Upon returning to Mexico to pursue his career in art, he first sculpted in wood, but then became interested in comic strips.  He was first introduced to the underground comix movement in France and became interested in the ability to reach the masses with his message. The movement is known for psychedelic as well as sexually explicit imagery. He has used his work to get across political as well across political as well as social ideas.

Rodolfo Aguirre Tinoco

Happy Birthday Rodolfo Aguirre Tinoco!

First let me say I am not sure why yesterday's blog post went on Wednesday's date! I finally find an artist who was actually born on January 26 and it posts to the wrong day...but anyway, please read about yesterday's artist Fernando Castro Pacheco under Wednesday, January 25...

This artist was born in 1927 and studied art at several different institutions. Rodolfo Aguirre Tinoco works in an Expressionistic style with the goal of illustrating man's psyche through his free form images, often using light and dark to represent positivity vs. negativity. He combines abstractions with realistic detail in paintings and graphic art, often using textured surfaces to describe human aspects.

His work has been displayed in many exhibitions, galleries and museums throughout the world.

Vladimir Cora

Happy Birthday Vladimir Cora!

In 1951, painter and sculptor Vladimir Cora was born in Acoponeta, Nayarit and lives in Nayarit still. His last name comes from the Cora people, native to the Nayarit area. Originally he wanted to be a musician, being fascinated with Carlos Santana, but turned instead to art around the age of fifteen after seeing a Monet painting on the cover of a magazine. He did receive some formal training, but much of his success has been from his own strong will and struggle. He traveled around to Tijuana, Mexico City and Mazatlan learning various techniques in search of his own style.

His work is primarily painting, sculpture and mixed media. It is described as "neo-figurative", expressionistic and spontaneous, influenced by Rufino Tamayo. He normally works in series, based on a theme (flowers, fruit, nude women and the Twelve Apostles are common themes).

Cora is rather reclusive and private. An aviary provides an outlet for his birding interest. He is married with three children.

Vladimir_Amador_Jazzamoart, Sin título 2, 2013, mixta sobre tela, 100 x 80 cm

Fernando Castro Pacheco

Happy Birhtday Francisco Castro Pacheco!

Born today January 26, 1918, Francisco Castro Pacheco was an artist of several mediums including engraving, illustration, painting, historical murals, etc. He was born in Merida, Yucatan and began his artistic training there at age 15, later relocating to Mexico City.

After moving to Mexico City, Pacheco co-founded  La Escuela Libre de Las Artes Plásticas de Yucatán, in 1941, a school (like others during this era) that attempted to free the artists' ability to capture nature by moving the classroom outdoors. The liberal teaching method of creating art outside was first promoted by Alfredo Ramos Martinez. Pacheco may also have been associated with Taller de Gráfica Popular to some degree, exhibiting work in a show, possibly creating prints for the group's message.

His early art centered around printing; wood and linoleum cuts, which were initially used as illustrations in children's books. His art has evolved and been in varied media over the years including mural painting, sculpture, and mixed media pieces. A primary focus was on the female figure.

Pacheco died at age 95 in 2013.

"The Taller is associated with popular political movements in Mexico during this time that included “progressive democratic” ideas and support for union workers and people of the lower classes."

Demian Flores

Happy Birthday Demian Flores!

Well known contemporary artist, Demian Flores was born in 1971, in Oaxaca. As a child he was quite introspective and quiet. His father owned a department store and eventually the family relocated to Mexico City. After attending college at the Escuela de Nacional Artes Plasticas and Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, he returned to Oaxaca and organized a workshop and cultural center ( La Curtiduría) in an old tannery building. It has become a hub for activities both cultural as well as political. In 2008 he created a new organization: Taller Gráfica Actual, designed to give graphic artists a display space for experimental works.

Flores' work is in various disciplines including painting, graphic arts and serigraphy. His painted images are dream like combining past and present Mexican gods, folklore, pop culture, pyramids, comic characters, etc. La Patria (the Homeland) 8 is pictured below demonstrating his style.

Abelardo Avila

Happy Birthday Abelardo Avila!

Abelardo Avila was born in 1907, in one of the smallest states in Mexico, Queretaro. Avila was quite educated in the arts. After first studying painting at Academia de Bellas Artes there, and then at Academia Nacional de Artes Plásticas in Mexico City, he became interested in engraving and went on to study printmaking at Taller de Grabado, de Madera y Metal.

Avila was also a teacher at various schools and workshops. He did paint one mural in partnership with Pedro Rendon, in Mexico City, in 1934. I am including a photo of the mural below. His costumbristo work earned him recognition as an historian.

costumbticism. Literal, pictorial interpretation of everday life. Usually considered a combination of Romanticism and Realism, with specific rather than general events and locales (Realism) depicted with the emotion of Romanticism. Can be satiric, but otherwise usually represented folkloric Hispanic life.

Cintia Bolio

 Happy Birthday Cintia Bolio!

Mexicana caricaturist and artist, Cintia Bolio was born in 1969, in Mexico City. She began as an editorial cartoonist, publishing her work in newspaper magazine publications around the world. Feminist Bolio has been a self taught artist for over 20 years. Her work has recently been used as a mouthpiece for her views on the Hilary Clinton/Donald Trump election in the US and Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto.