Antonio Rodriguez Luna

Happy Birthday Antonio Rodriguez Luna!

The artist Antonio Rodriguez Luna was born in Spain, on July 22, 1910, but spent his life in Mexico after being exiled during the Spanish Civil War. |He studied art beginning at age 13 in Seville and then moved to study in Madrid and began exhibiting in Europe. When he fled Spain he was captured and placed in a concentration camp but was released to go to Mexico in 1939. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship to the US and displayed his work in Washington DC and New York. Much of his work has to do with war: dark and emotional.

The ink on paper shown below is titled "Exodo" (Exodus).

Pietro Gualdi

Happy Birthday Pietro Gualdi!

Italian born Pietro Gualdi was actually born on July 22, 1808. He studied perspective, drawing and theater design at Milan Academy of Arts. After earning his degree, Gualdi traveled with an Italian opera company and ultimately relocated to Mexico where he created numerous sketches, paintings and lithographs of Mexican architecture, scenery and popular public spaces. His panoramic lithographs and paintings documented Mexican history and even were used in the Mexican American war effort by the US. After thirteen years in Mexico, Gauldi moved to New Orleans where he created a bird's eye panorama of the city from St. Patrick's Church tower.

Today I have included "Vistas de la Ciudad de Mexico" 

Yvonne Domenge

Happy Birthday Yvonne Domenge!

The sculptor and teacher  Yvonne Domenge was born in Mexico City in 1946. She has studied at several institutions including in Mexico, Washington DC and the Ibero-American University in Mexico City.

Her personal art focuses on abstract steel sculpture in bright colors. Numerous Mexican museums, private collections and culture centers as well as teaching institutions house her work. A well-known and loved sculptor, Domenge's work has won many recognitions and awards, including being selected as a sculptor for the International Olympic Sculptor's Exhibition in Beijing, China Summer Olympics 2008.

She has used sculpture and drawing as therapeutic tools for children and adults. She has also taught art appreciation and created a Children's Museum garden in Veracruz.

Ingrid Rosas

Happy Birthday Ingrid Rosas!

The abstract painter/poet was born in 1967 in Leon, Guanajuato. Truly a mixed media artist, Rosa was the first to be recognized for creating paintings with her own poetry inscribed over them. She tends to work in series. She has painted at least one mural, at the Jesuit School LUX, in which the students are depicted as doves.

Her work has been displayed all over the world. Ingrid Rosas has published a few poetry collections, her latest Between Heaven and Exile. She has also had work published in New York Arts Magazine. She is a member of several groups including international "DIN A4".

Charlotte Yazbek

Happy Birthday Charlotte (Mata Rascala) Yazbek!

Born in Puebla in 1919, this Mexican artist was a sculptor. Charlotte Mata Rascala came from Lebanese background. Her mother died when she was young so she was brought up by her father. Her second husband was Jose Yazbek, also a sculptor. Charlotte studied art with Uxio Souto (1957) among others. After gaining recognition with her first exhibit in 1960, several of her sculptures were displayed at the Mexican Pavilion at The New York World Fair in 1964.

Her figures are distinctive with an elongated body and limbs. The setting is often in nature, usually conveying great emotion. *Funny side note: I live in San Pancho, Mexico, and came across an unfinished sculpture in the jungle that bears great resemblance to Yazbek's work! It is a man seated with his knees up arms and head slumped.  But her sculpture "Pandora's Box", pictured below, is a favorite of mine; with the peek into the box and the "Eve" connotation beneath her bench...

Francisco Toledo

Happy Birthday Francisco Toledo!

The Zapotec (indigenous people from Oaxaca) artist Francisco Toledo was born today, July 17, 1940, in Juchitan, Oaxaca. He was trained at Escuela de Bellas Artes de Oaxaca and in graphic arts with Guillermo Silva Santamaria at Centro Superior de Artes Aplicadas del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. He received a scholarship to study in Paris and while there his work was shown in important galleries in Europe. Toledo became a painter, sculptor and graphic artist, working in several media. His love of nature is apparent in the textures, layers and details of his work. His subjects are invariably nature: animal and human and his indigenous roots come through.

In an attempt to boost the social and cultural aspects of Oaxaca, he founded libraries, photographic centers, and a contemporary art museum in his home state. He has won several awards including the "Right Livelihood Award" in 2005. His work has been displayed all over the world.

Laura Elenes

Happy Birthday Laura Elenes!

Beautiful Mazatlan, Sinaloa, was the birthplace of Laura Elenes, in 1933. After studying industrial design and art, she taught at the National Autonomous University of Mexico for 23 years. Her own art career began around 1970 until her death in 2005, with creations in sculpture, painting and printmaking. An avid pre-Hispanic literature enthusiast, Elenes' work is based on the patterns, geometry, and materials found in that culture. She worked in both figurative and abstraction. Being a weaver myself, I particularly like the mixed media pieces (one shown below) with the open woven cloth.

Elenes had over 50 solo exhibitions and numerous inclusions in various collectives. Her work has been shown all over the world and is included in several permanent collections, She was recognized in a biography of her life written by Nadja Betron, and featured in retrospectives and tributes.