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Creative Process

Graphic adventure of Abel Vázquez on LP discs.

By Melva Medina

Grinding, cutting, depressing volumes and polishing planes. Digging, blocking, playing with lines, making textures. Imagining, shaping its own dreams and legends.

Putting the praxis of genius on that small round surface, which allowed him with nobility, to be matter and protagonist of his madness …

During the 80’s, the compact disc appeared as a great novelty due to its sound and fidelity, replacing the great LP discs, which were left in oblivion, littered and discarded as garbage.

Abel Vázquez, during the 90’s, waiting for the arrival of his little daughter and living the first years of his first daughter, finds in the acetates of LP discs, ideal matrices for the production of pieces of graphic work in the technique of the gravure and its subsequent printing using the experience of roll up.

Melva and Abel previously had already experimented in the engraving workshop on zinc and iron plates, intervening with varnishes and acids, inking with rollers of different hardnesses and transparent inks with various degrees of viscosity, they achieved depressions and qualities that gave spectacular results.

With the arrival of his two little girls, and with the idea of ​​achieving less toxic processes, it was wonderful to find new surfaces and mechanical resources from the grinding machines and hand motors they used to make the sculptures, now adapting them in the new matrices.

Disc acetates are smooth with handheld motor and dry tip; they are susceptible to sandpaper and polishers, they are loyal reproducers of line and texture. The millimeter lines recorded with audible music are now visually perceived as part of the rhythms in the compositions with color harmonies.

This is how Abel played, next to his fatherhood, enjoying his little daughters doing naive works evoking the childhood of Meztli and Citlalli, sharing one more adventure with Melva in the studio, in that small department of the 5th. Apartment, on Insurgentes Avenue in Mexico City.

Creative Process

Time of no time

By Guadalupe Caballero

“There is no time for things” says Abel Vázquez, joking a little bit about the pun that refers to the name of the work. The time of no time, represents the painter’s two daughters: Citlalli and Meztli, both nature lovers, spiritual beings who are looking for their own time.

The painting is divided between earth and cosmology. The most impressive thing about Abel’s art, is that he always plays not only with his titles, but also with shapes and figures that he portrays. From one side, the painting tells you a story, but if you flip it three more times, you will get different versions of the tale; this is, without a doubt, what makes this work so peculiar yet attractive.

At first glance, the figure of a braided woman is striking. In Abel’s words, it represents Citlali; below or next to her (depending on how the viewer perceives it) you can find the nature, sea, plants and animals surrounding her. What in a beginning seems to be a snail, suddenly turns into a bird, swan or heron, all of this elements being wrapped by cosmology and earth, making the landscape a riddle.

From the other side, there is Meztli. She can seem in one of the readings, an angel with closed wings falling to the void, her hair represents water, and her gazing is stirring yet meticulous. From her figure, if you look closer, you will find that another face is drawn, as well as a pair of arms that are tossing small seeds to the air. All of this, expresses a deep connection between her being and earth, it serves a caring role, and talks about a protection bond that she wants to reach with her sister.

When you flip the painting, her figure is no longer falling, but it is dancing in the air or the universe, trying to find herself. Now, the sea turns into a cactus, stars transform into flowers and birds into fishes. The angel’s hands portray light, meaning the energy that all of us have within ourselves; what was before cosmology it is now earth, it goes deep down the sea, feeding and nourishing fishes, so it becomes a circle of life. It connects with nature and also with herself.

Other elements like the blue dots in the painting, symbolize flowers, stars or fireflies. Abel narrates how in his homeland, he used to lay down on the field and look up to the sky; what for so many could seemed to be common stars, for him meant a swarm of fireflies. The night became a source of inspiration, just as the red color and ochre that you can see portrayed on many of his works. You can’t help but notice the subtle and elegant strokes that all of this paintings possess, he likes putting nature as the main topic to make others see how important it is not only in artistic issues, but also in universal ones.

“There is no time to destroy or not destroy, it is about making a dialogue, why waiting for time? Just do it, time does not exist”. The painter finishes. His work can be described as a puzzle, riddle or optical illusion, the viewers see what they want to see, they take their own time to appreciate and decode what lays in front of their eyes.

Abel does not want to give a clear answer for the painting, as he finds beauty and joy in the interpretations that people grant regarding his art.

Interview to Abel Vazquez

Mestiza’s Figure

By Guadalupe Caballero, Photos by Vanessa Alejandro

The word “mestiza” (half-blood/ half-breed/ mixed-race, used for women) represents, for Yucatan’s culture an emblem of motherhood, home, protection, wisdom and history. It is, for many, the representation of indigenous, strong and hard worker woman whose embroideries are worn by many citizens; a clear example could be the shoes, clothes, bags and accessories that foreigners or even Mexicans use. However, the perception that a common person has about mestizas, is different from the one that an artist could have; this is because artists can see not only the physical aspect of the subject, but also the essence. The mestiza, in this case, depicts a precious and valuable figure by many Mexican artists who respect and portray her more as a cultural identity, rather than a historical symbol.

To Abel, the mestiza is part of his identity. Being himself a member of a mixtecan community (those who reside in Oaxaca), he has been surrounded all his life by indigenous women, whose physical proportions such as wide hips, thick arms and legs, represent the image of how Mexican indigenous women are. This are features that have inspired him to create his sculptures. “I come from an indigenous family, my grandmothers worked on the field, so I see the strength that they have and that’s what I want people to see portrayed” he states.

The interest that the sculptor has for the mestiza’s image, is illustrated in his words full of joy, as he relates how in his first years of art school, making sculptures with topics regarding women, was implemented as an area. With practice, he started to develop a love for it, which kept growing throughout the years. For the artist, this portray never stopped to be important in his life as well as in his personal life; he is interested to know which attitudes and emotions the new generation has regarding mestizas and, most important , he would like to rebirth the image of female strength.

As Abel keeps reciting his experiences, his eyes start to sparkle in happiness, it is the proudness of embodying a work that contains his own identity that makes him so blissful. He mentions that the inspiration to create mestizas sculptures does not appear just like that, but it comes from generations, experiences and artist’s memories throughout historical ages.

“I was born from the land, the field, there were no hospitals. Talking about the indigenous woman, is talking about my essence.” He claims. As the artist lived the majority of his life with his grandmother, he observed her endless times plowing the land; he remembers watching his aunt selling on the markets the fruits that used to grow on the backyard. Abel recalls the attention that he gave to small details such as their behavior, attitudes, the shape of their silhouettes, hands, face features, hair, and the way they dressed, that later on would be reflected on his sculptures.

Abel Vazquez, does not perceive mestizas as strange entities; the view that he has on them goes beyond, that someone who has never spent time with one, could ever have. The typical image of the mestiza is described as the brunette woman with braided hair that you could easily find in a market, as a handmaid in wealthy families or even hidden within her town, far away from the modern society which is so alien to her, as her culture would be to a common person. The artist, emphasizes that for him, it is about the reflection of a life essence which he grew up with, it is portraying love towards Mayan culture and above all, to fortify the image of the indigenous woman through art.

Creative Process

The sacred land of Abel Vazquez

by Vanessa Alejandro / translation Miguel Sciaudone

Abel is a curious man, like an unstoppable child in the creation of ideas and worlds full of mystical stories. The language in his works is everyday, naive and explosively colorful, highlighting his interest in the land and its spirit.

Born in Oaxaca, he received from his grandmother, Mayora (who works as a healer and counselor), great mystical influence which he proudly expresses in his works.

From his childhood he trained as a cabinet maker and then went on to graduate from the famous Mexican national art school, “La Esmeralda”. He was a student of Francisco Moyao, Octavio Bajonero, Rolando Arjona and Mario Rendón.

Abel belongs to the prolific generation of Mexican plastic artists of the eighties that includes Sergio Hernández, Antonio Nava, German Venegas, Flor Minor, Roberto Turmbull, Renato González, Magali Lara, Rocio Maldonado and Melva Medina to name a few.

He has developed monumental works with important masters of Mexican art such as José Chávez Morado. He worked to elaborate several monuments and models for him, one of them being the shield of the Legislative Palace of San Lázaro in Mexico City.

He also has more public works in Mexico City, such as the monument to the nurse and portraits of writers that commemorate the guild in the ballpark of the square of the writers of SOGEM.

Experiments with drawing, photography, bodypaint, engraving, sculpture and painting, make him a multifaceted artist full of stories to tell the viewer.

Abel, the plastic artist, does not seem to care much for fame and international recognition (which he has achieved). In 40 years of experience, he continues to produce and invent characters and enigmatic worlds in his workshop. He kindly welcomes visitors to his house-gallery, who are fascinated by his works in bronze, stone, resins, acrylics and iron…

His works have been exhibited in Chicago, Los Angeles, Arizona, Miami, New Orleans… but Abel always keeps his feet on the ground where much of his inspiration comes from. An idiosyncratic illustrious character and teacher of the plastic arts,  he adds incalculable value to Mexican culture.

Abel Vazquez and Melva Medina collaborated as guest artists in the artistic framework that was developed in 2009, at the World Wildlife Congress.

A sculptural figure of a jaguar was the symbol of the congress; This symbol was the canvas for artists of trajectory, to capture their art in them. Later these pieces were donated by the artists to be auctioned and help (with the funds raised) the actions of conservation and protection of the wild fauna.

Their collaboration was also recognized at the closure of the event, where different body paint pieces were performed with the participation of 15 artists.

15 photographers from the National Geografic, carried out a collaborative work, obtaining high quality photographic images, which were also auctioned to benefit the same cause.

Compartir

In 2011, Nahualli organized a beautiful event, opening the doors to a distinguished group of Cuban artist. The exhibition consisted of wonderful paintings, drawings and sculptures, as well as sample dishes made by each artist.

The intention of this event was to create a direct contact between art and its spectator. We wanted to take away the existing taboo around the idea of art as an untouchable thing.

We created elegant banquet tables designed by each artist with their plates as part of the art work at the event. At the opening night, we enjoyed a delicious three-course dinner.

The participating artists from Cuba were: Angel Ramírez, Carlos Camero, Estefanía Diez (Nur), Eduardo Abela, Héctor Frank, José Agustín González (Grillo) and, as host artists, Abel Vázquez and Melva Medina.

The event was framed with an amazing concert by Pawel Blaszkowski on the violin and Ruth Bennett at the harp.

The tasting was offered by Martín Álvarez Ibarrondo.

To organize this event, we counted with the collaboration of Georgina Colina.

Since 2010 Nahualli has collaborated with Habla: The Center for Language and Culture. By organizing talks, and conducting activities and workshops, to strengthen the Spanish language of the students from this institute.

With art as a seductive starting point; Melva Medina and the staff from Habla have formed a great team to create interest and good language development, through their activities at Nahualli’s gallery and studio.

The creation of this exquisite experience, directed by Abel Vázquez, consisted on presenting three of his large paintings, and executing a performance through body make-up on the entire body of professional dancers.

This work was framed with the collaboration of Seth Montfort, a very skilled pianist that combined his musical compositions with the performance, and gave emphasis to the work of the dancers. This way Abel made us live the stories of each one of his paintings, taking out the characters in a three-dimensional way and giving them life by using body paint.

This extraordinary project was created with the participation of Melva Medina, Aura Meztli (by helping with the body painting and logistics), Julian Veronin Chu Ling Kuo and Carlos Arjona (with photography).

In 2016, Nahualli, comes out of it’s building to set off the first project of collaboration between Aura Meztli (fashion designer/artist) and Melva Medina (sculptress).

At the Museum of Merida’s City (Museo de la Ciudad de Mérida), Aura Meztli dictates the thematic guideline to carry out a multidisciplinary discourse.

Starting from a series of drawings, she approaches in an overwhelming and clear way, the theme of sexual abuse; a lamentable phenomenon that currently affects our society.

These drawings are taken up by sculptress Melva Medina, who interprets them merging esthetic criteria of art and fashion, managing to project the message in an important and profound way on each of her sculptures.

The event was crowned with a fashion show, with clothing designed by Aura Meztli. Where two stages were distinguished; the first one, presenting elegant coats and jackets symbolizing modesty, shame, and repression, evoking with their extremely long sleeves, the straitjackets of psychiatric hospitals. On the second stage, the outerwear disappears, revealing very beautiful dresses, which emphasize the sensuality of bodies in a very subtle way, playing with transparencies and minimalistic forms. Fashion was a tool to recover strength and dignity for women.

During the month of May of 2014, Nahualli was honored by the presence of graphic artwork produced by artists from Oaxaca, distributed in 5 exhibitions.

We had a collection of more than 400 artworks from different artists, in which the presence of Shinzaburo Takeda, Francisco Toledo, Sergio Hernández, Raúl Soruco, Alejandro Santiago, Enrique Flores, Maximino Javier and Rolando Rojas, stood out, among others.

The collaboration of teacher Patricia Reyes was crucial for the execution of the event.

The workshops presented in this event were:

 

“Rufino Tamayo Plastic Arts” Workshop.

“Enrique Flores” Workshop in Huitzo.

“Bambú” Workshop

Alfredo Canseco’s COMEX society workshop.

“La Curtiduría” Workshop.

“Raúl Soruco” Workshop.

“Juan Alcazar” Free workshop.

“Mark Silverberg” Workshop.

“Bellas artes; UABJO” Workshop.

“El gabinete gráfico” Workshop

“El cimarrón” Workshop.

“Francisco Limón” Workshop

“Fernando Sandoval” Workshop.