Filemon Trevino

Happy Birthday Filemon Trevino!

This Mexican artist, born today, June 3, 1969, in Monterrey, Nuevo León. He is known for holding the world record for creating the largest pencil drawing in the world. The drawing, entitled Electrocardiograma Artistico, is a quarter mile long (1350 feet). Trevino became obsessed with the project, which took 6000 hours to complete and was hospitalized 7 times for dehydration, heart and kidney problems. He used 800 pencils on the drawing. The project was finally displayed at Regiomontana University in his hometown and he was awarded the Guinness World Book of Records for it. The subject is his symbolic depiction of the circulatory system involving a mass of interconnected tubes with geometric shapes and doves. He began the endeavor in July of 2004 and completed it over a year later in August of 2005.


 

Jesus Escobedo

Happy Birthday Jesus Escobedo!

The Mexican artist Jesus Escobedo was born today, in 1918, in Michoacan. He relocated to Mexico City where he attended Escuela de Pintura al Aire Libre and Academy San Carlos. He is credited with being a founder of the Salon de la Plastica Mexicana. 

Escobedo was known for drawing and engraving. He was best known for book illustration and worked with publishers in Mexico as well as the US. He created 8 lithographs about New York City, for which  he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. A member of Ligo de Escritorios y Artistas Revoluccionaries and Taller de Grafica Popular, Escobedo was quite political so created posters etc. with a political message. Perhaps his most well known work was the creation of illustrations for the book Lecturas Hispanoamericanas in 1946.

Heart failure took Escobedo's life at age 60.

Rodolfo Escalera

Happy Birthday Rodolfo Escalera!

Mexican painter Rodolfo Escalera, only son in a family of five, was born on June 1 in 1929, in Durango, Mexico. He began his art career studying architecture in California and a couple of years later went to work for an advertising firm. He created posters, advertisements and movie covers and then evolved into the creation of collectible plates. Although he began with mainly children's plates, he famously created four collectible plates for the 1984 Olympics which became the official gift of the Olympics that year. In 1986 he created a plate for the World Cup. Escalera won several recognitions and awards, including Ciudadando Distinguido" or "very distinguished citizen" from his hometown of Durango. Escalera passed away in 2000 after a six year battle with cancer.

Leandro Izaguirre

Happy Birthday Leandro Izaguirre!

Painter Leandro Izaguirre was born in Mexico City on February 13, 1867. He attended Academia de San Carlos in 1884, under Santiago Rebull and Jose Salome Pina. Izaguirre was enamored with historical themed subjects, including the one I've included today: The Torture of  Cuauhtemoc, depicting the final Aztec emperor.

He was involved in the effort to create a Mexican school of painting and helped establish organizations to facilitate the endeavor. He was an illustrator for the magazine  Mundo Ilustrado and from 1904-06 worked on European commissions. In addition to painting, Izaguirre also taught at The Academia.

Gabriel Fernandez Ledesma

Happy Birthday Gabriel Fernandez Ledesma!

Born today, May 30, 1900, Gabriel Fernandez Ledesma was a painter, graphic artist, printmaker an sculptor. From a large family in Aguascalientes, he founded an artist group: Circulo de Artistas Independentes, even before he began his formal study at Escuela de Nacional Bellas Artes. Following his education he began his art career working on governmental projects, working on murals and tile work in collaboration with Roberto Montenegro. He went into teaching as well as writing for various magazines. Ledesma was paramount in promoting engraving in Mexico.

He was responsible for initiating several art organizations (30-30, Ligo de Escritoresy Artistas Revolucionarios) and he and his brothers created a sculpture and carving school: Escuela de Escultura y Tallahassee Directo, organized to refute the idea of "art for art's sake". The school worked with children and teachers on handcrafts and cultural art.

He received recognitions from the Guggenheim Foundation among others.

The painting below is gouache, brush, ink on paper...

                                                                          Calaveras

Patricia Torres

Happy Birthday Patricia Torres!

Although I am not sure if Patricia Torres' actual birthday, I am writing about this Mexican artist who was born in 1963, today. She is a feminist conceptual artist greatly influenced by conceptual/multi-media artist Monica Mayer (see blogpost May 19). Torres has been practicing her art for over 20 years. Through her art she looks at women's issues in society, exploring gender, societal views, identity, and the internal workings of the body.

Her paintings construct varying compositional planes through transparent layering of oil paint. She uses color to enhance the perspective. Lately Torres has started using collage elements and technologies as well. She has enjoyed collaboration with other artists including Jose Luis Cuevas, Leonora Carrington, and Gunter Gerzo.

Jesus Helguerra

Happy Birthday Jesus Helguerra

Born today, May 28, 1910, in Chihuahua, Mexico, Jesus Helguera's family fled to Spain for a time during the Mexican Revolution, returning in his early 20's with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. He became interested in art early on and loved the Prado Museum in Madrid. He worked as an illustrator first, then went on to become a professor at age 18, at the Bilboa Art Institute. He did some mural work with his return to Mexico at the height of the muralism movement, but also painted his interests: Aztec influenced art, pin-up girls, and Mexican landscape. His themes reflect an idealized Mexico and romanticism.

His most famous work is thought to be La Leyenda de los Volcanes, said to be inspired by legendary Popocatepetl and Izztaccihuatl, an Aztec myth explaining the origins of two volcanoes that tower over the Valley of Mexico.

Much of his work has been reproduced for calendars, cigar boxes, etc.

Today I am including his La Leyenda de los Volcanes...