Jazzamoart
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Jazzamoart (born May 28, 1951) is a Mexican artist best known for his painting which is mostly connected to
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
music in some way. Born Francisco Javier Vázques Estupiñán in
Irapuato Irapuato is a Mexican city (and municipality) located at the foot of the Arandas Hill (in Spanish: ''Cerro de Arandas''), in the central region of the state of Guanajuato. It lies between the Silao River and the Guanajuato River, a tributary of ...
, Guanajuato, his talent was recognized early and he took his professional name from his dual passions of jazz and art. He is best known as a painter with over 400 individual and collective exhibitions on several continents, but he has also done monumental sculpture, stage scenery and has collaborated with musicians. He lives in Mexico City.


Life

Jazzamoart was born with the name of Francisco Javier Vázques Estupiñán on May 28, 1951 in Irapuato, Guanajuato. He is one of seven children born to Rasaura Estupiñán and Javier Vázquez Farfán. He comes from a family of artists, having contact with art from a young age. He says his childhood home as a gathering place for artists and writers. His father is a painter and was his first teacher. His father recognized his talent and created a studio for him when he was only six. At age twelve, he created landscapes of the Bajío region and began to sell his work when he was still a minor. As a teen he exhibited his work at the
Museo Nacional de Antropología The National Museum of Anthropology ( es, Museo Nacional de Antropología, MNA) is a national museum of Mexico. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. Located in the area between Paseo de la Reforma and Mahatma Gandhi Street with ...
and at an exhibition at
Chapultepec Castle Chapultepec Castle ( es, Castillo de Chapultepec) is located on top of Chapultepec Hill in Mexico City's Chapultepec park. The name ''Chapultepec'' is the Nahuatl word ''chapoltepēc'' which means "on the hill of the grasshopper". The castle has s ...
, Agustín Yañez, the
Secretary of Public Education The Mexican Secretariat of Public Education ( in Spanish ''Secretaría de Educación Pública'', ''SEP'') is a federal government authority with cabinet representation and the responsibility for overseeing the development and implementation of ...
, saw his work and offered a scholarship. He entered the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in 1969 with Manuel Herrera Cartalla and
Gilberto Aceves Navarro Gilberto Aceves Navarro (September 24, 1931 – October 21, 2019) was a List of Mexican artists, Mexican painter and sculptor and a professor at the National School of Arts (UNAM), Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas and Academy of San Carlos. Th ...
among his teachers. His exposure to music began early as well. His grandfather owned the most luxurious salon in Irapuato called El Lujo. One peculiarity of the establishment was that all the
barber A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave men's and boys' hair or beards. A barber's place of work is known as a "barbershop" or a "barber's". Barbershops are also places of social interaction and publi ...
s played an instrument such as banjos and clarinets giving him some of his first exposure to jazz. In the early 1960s, he once helped musician Freddy Marichal carrying his drums at a club called Fra Diavolo. He heard the music and was fascinated and began to draw musicians. He first began to call himself Jazzamoart at age 20, when he first began collecting jazz records and painting to them. The name is a fusion of the words “jazz,” “amo” (I love) and “art.” He is a serious collector of records, buying at least one every week for the last quarter century. The jazz collection is wide-ranging and current but his favorites are classics such as
Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
,
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...
,
John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Born and raise ...
and
Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...
. He is not a fan of New Orleans jazz saying that it is too mellow and lacks intensity. His obsession with jazz music is such that musicians often appear in his dreams, especially Charlie Parker. In 1973, he married Nora Smith, who has since managed the business end of the art as well as the driving as Jazzamoart chooses not to learn. The couple have three children, Jazzamoart, Viart (“via”(life) and “art”) and Poettier (“poet” and “tier”(earth)). They also have one grandson, who is also named Jazzamoart. He lives in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
, with his studio, father's apartment and brother's music studio across the street. His oldest son plays saxophone and has toured with bands in Latin America, the US and Europe.


Career

Jazzamoart began his career selling paintings of generic scenes of Mexican life on the streets of Mexico City. Today he is a successful painter and sculptor but is better known for his painting. He has had over 350 individual and collective exhibitions of his work on various continents. His first professional exhibition was in 1971 at the Centro Cultural Isidro Fabela in Mexico City. His first individual exhibition was in 1972 at the Centro Cultural San Ángel in Mexico City. During the rest of the 1970s he presented his first sculptures at ARCON Gallery in Mexico City (1976) and exhibited his work at the Tercer Espacio Gallery in Tampico, Juglar Gallery, El Agora Gallery in Mexico City (1976), Casa de la Paz in Mexico City (1977), Teatro Principal in Guanajuato and the Concurso de Pintura Dante Alighieri in Mexico City (1979). In the 1980s, he exhibited at the Concurso National de Arte de INBA (1981, 1982, 1985), I Bienal Tamayo (1982), the Metropolitan Gallery of the
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana The Metropolitan Autonomous University ( Spanish: ''Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana'') also known as UAM, is a Mexican public university. Founded in 1974 with the support of then-President Luis Echeverria Alvarez, the institution aims to be c ...
, José María Velasco Gallery and Chapultepec Gallery (1983),
Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It has hosted notable events in music, dance, theatre, opera and literature in Mexico and has held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture and p ...
(1984, 1986), Museo del Chopo and Ollin Yolliztli in Mexico City, Casa de Artes de Oaxaca(1984),
Phoenix Art Museum The Phoenix Art Museum is the largest museum for visual art in the southwest United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,000 works of ...
, L’space Cardin Gallery in Paris, the Joan Miró Internactional Drawing Competition in
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, and the Rufino Tamayo Museum (1985), I Biennal in
Cuenca, Ecuador Santa Ana de los Cuatro Ríos de Cuenca, commonly referred to as Cuenca ( Kichwa: ''Tumipampa'') is the capital and largest city of the Azuay Province of Ecuador. Cuenca is located in the highlands of Ecuador at about above sea level, with an ur ...
, III Tamayo Biennial and I Biennial in Miami (1986),
Bronx Museum of the Arts The Bronx Museum of the Arts (BxMA), also called the Bronx Museum of Art or simply the Bronx Museum, is an American cultural institution located in Concourse, Bronx, New York. The museum focuses on contemporary and 20th-century works created by ...
, Carrillo Gil Art Museum and San Carlos Museum in Mexico City (1987) and the Scott Alan Gallery (1988). In the 1990s, he exhibited at the
Museo de Arte Moderno The Museo de Arte Moderno (Museum of Modern Art) is located in Chapultepec park, Mexico City, Mexico. The museum is part of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura and provides exhibitions of national and international contemporary a ...
, Museo de la Estampa (1990), the Iturralde Gallery, the Los Angeles WTC, Contemporary Gallery in Mexico City (1991), Europalia Festival in Ostend, Belgium, ITESM Campus Estado de México, the former Monastery of San Agustin in
Zacatecas , image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg , map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type ...
, the
Palace of Iturbide The Palace of Iturbide (1779 to 1785) is a large palatial residence located in the historic center of Mexico City at Madero Street #17. It was built by the Count of San Mateo Valparaíso as a wedding gift for his daughter. It gained the name '' ...
in Mexico City, the Triennial of
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(1993), Belem Cultural Center in Lisbon, Centro México XXI in Mexico City, Fine Arts Institute in San José, Costa Rica (1994), Cineteca Nacional,
José Luis Cuevas Museum The José Luis Cuevas Museum is located just off the Zócalo within the Historic center of Mexico City, in Mexico City, Mexico. The museum and Church of Santa Inés were built as parts of the Convent of Santa Inés (''Agnes of Rome'') complex. T ...
in Mexico City (1995), Gallery Norske Grafikere in
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...
, Del Carmen Museum,
Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros The Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros is a cultural, political and social facility located in Mexico City as part of the World Trade Center Mexico City. It was designed and decorated by David Alfaro Siqueiros in the 1960s and hosts the largest mural w ...
in Mexico City, Kerava Museum, Joenbuv Museum and Rovaniemi Museum in
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
, (1996) Pecannins Gallery, Kin Gallery in Mexico City, Casa de Cultura in Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexican Cultural institute of
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, Do Brinquedo Museum in
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, Museum of the Americas in
Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
(1997), Gallery Kyra Marlat in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
,
Museum of Latin American Art The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) was founded by Dr. Robert Gumbiner in 1996 in Long Beach, California, United States and serves the greater Los Angeles area. MOLAA is the only museum in the United States dedicated to modern and contempora ...
in
Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...
(1998), Casa de Diego Rivera in Guanajuato,
San Ildefonso College Colegio de San Ildefonso, currently is a museum and cultural center in Mexico City, considered to be the birthplace of the Mexican muralism movement. San Ildefonso began as a prestigious Jesuit boarding school, and after the Reform War it gai ...
and the SCHP Museum in Mexico City(1999). In the 2000s, he exhibited at
UNAM The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigge ...
, Hospicio Cabañas in Guadalajara, MACAY Museum in Mérida, Rye Arts Center in New York,(2000) José Luis Cuevas Museum, Gallery of the International Airport in Mexico City, New Gallery Space in New York, Art in Context Gallery in
Naples, Florida Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the historical city (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of downtown Naples) was 19,115. Naples is a principal city of the Naples-Marco Island, Flori ...
(2001),
Reina Sofia Museum Reina (the Spanish word for queen) or La Reina may refer to: Geography * Reina, Badajoz, a municipality in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain * Reina, Estonia, a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County, Estonia * La Reina, a commune ...
in Madrid,
Festival Internacional Cervantino The Festival Internacional Cervantino (FIC), popularly known as ''El Cervantino'', is a festival which takes place each fall in the city of Guanajuato, located in central Mexico. The festival originates from the mid 20th century, when short play ...
, Lourdes Chumacero Gallery in Mexico City (2002), Mexico Institute in San Antonio and Washington DC, Marco Museum in Monterrey (2003), Manuel Felguérez Museum in Zacatecas, the Tlaxcala Art Museum, the
Montreal International Jazz Festival The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal ( en, Montreal International Jazz Festival) is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz fes ...
(2004),
Tour de la Bourse The Tour de la Bourse ( en, Stock Exchange Tower) is a 48-storey skyscraper in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Victoria Square and Saint Jacques Street in the International Quarter. It is connected by the undergro ...
in
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, Hyogo Prefectural Museum in Kobe (2005),
World Trade Center Mexico City The World Trade Center Mexico City, commonly known by its former name, Hotel de México, is a building complex located in the wealthy neighborhood of Colonia Nápoles in central Mexico City. Its most famous and recognizable feature is the 50- ...
,
Mexican Stock Exchange The Mexican Stock Exchange ( es, Bolsa Mexicana de Valores), commonly known as Mexican Bolsa, Mexbol, or BMV, is one of two stock exchanges in Mexico, the other being BIVA - Bolsa Institucional de Valores. It is the second largest stock exchange ...
, ITESM-Irapuato, Castle Gallery in New York, Vismara Gallery in Italy (2006), Costumbrista Museum in Sonora, Raúl Anguiano Museum in Guadalajara, Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City (2007), North Sea Jazz Festival in
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...
, Espacio Cultural Metropolitano in
Tampico Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fifth ...
, Vértice Gallery in Puerto Vallarta (2008), Laberinto Museum in San Luis Potosí and
Torre Mayor The Torre Mayor (literally "Major Tower") is a skyscraper in Mexico City, Mexico. With a height of 225 meters (738 feet) to the top floor and 55 stories, it is the third tallest building in Mexico. It was surpassed in height by Torre BBVA Banco ...
in Mexico City. In addition to exhibitions, he has done work related to the music industry, especially jazz artists. His visual works and stage settings have appeared with well-known jazz musicians. In 1981 he created the stage setting for the Jazz Festival at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City. In 1983 he created a performance piece with Alain Derbéz and
Rockdrigo González Rodrigo González, (25 December 1950 – 19 September 1985), better known as Rockdrigo or ''El profeta del nopal'' ("The Nopal Prophet"), was a Mexican singer-songwriter. He died at age 35 with his girlfriend, Francoise Bardinet, when the apart ...
at the
Museo de Arte Moderno The Museo de Arte Moderno (Museum of Modern Art) is located in Chapultepec park, Mexico City, Mexico. The museum is part of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura and provides exhibitions of national and international contemporary a ...
in Mexico City. In 1985 he joined the group Creative Processes working with
Arnold Belkin Arnold Belkin (December 9, 1930 – July 3, 1992) was a Canadian- Mexican painter credited for continuing the Mexican muralism tradition at a time when many Mexican painters were shifting away from it. Born and raised in western Canada, he ...
,
Jacobo Borges Jacobo Borges (born 28 November 1931 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a contemporary, neo-figurative Latin- American artist. His curiosity for exploring different mediums made him a painter, drawer, film director, stage designer and plastic artist. Kn ...
, Enrique Bostelmann, Teresa Morán, Luis Argudín, Andrés de Luna, Enrique Estrada and
Carlos Montemayor Carlos Montemayor (June 13, 1947 in Parral, Chihuahua – February 28, 2010 in Mexico City) was a Mexican novelist, poet, essayist, literary critic, tenor, political analyst, and promoter of contemporary literature written in indigenous language ...
. In 1992, he created the set for the International Festival of Jazz at the Auditorio Nacional. In 1989 he worked with Alain Derbéz, Evodio Escalante and Ariel Guzik to edit an album called “La Cocina, Música para Bailar.” In 1999 his art is on pianist Olivia Revueltas’ CD called “Round Midnight in LA”. In 2004, he collaborated on the CD “Sonora Onosón with Alain Derbéz, Iraida Noriega, Gerardo Bátiz, Juan Christóbal Pérez Grobet and others. He painted the scenery for a 2005 concert by musician Arturo Cipriano in the Zocalo of Mexico City. In 2008 he designed the scenery of the Festival Nacional de Jazz en Auditoro Nezahualcoyotl at UNAM. He has done a number of monumental works, mostly sculpture. In 1989 he painted a 360 m2 mural at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. In 1992 he created a monumental sculpture sponsored by art collector Francisco Servin. In 1995, he created a monumental sculpture in
West Hollywood, California West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most prominent gay villages ...
. In 2003, he collaborated with sculptor Sebastián on monumental pieces for the Corridor Chactemal in
Quintana Roo Quintana Roo ( , ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo), is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 11 mu ...
and the Juan Soriano Sculptural Garden in
Colima Colima (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Colima ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Colima), is one of the 31 states that make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It shares its name with its capital and main city, Colima. Colima i ...
. In 2004, he created a totem pole in
Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec Saint-Jean-Port-Joli is a village in the Regional County Municipality of L'Islet within the Chaudière-Appalaches region of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River and is the county seat. The village is locat ...
. Other kinds of artistic projects have included creating a giant Judas figure at the Centro Cultural San Angel in Mexico City in 1995, creating the stations of the cross at the San Vicente Ferrer parish in Mexico City and working with Talavera de la Reyna in Puebla in 2003, designing the prize for the Mexico Jazz Festival in 2005, creating an interactive sculpture for the Papalote Children's Museum, and creating the commemorative design for the 60th anniversary of the
Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México The Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology), commonly known as ITAM, is a private university. It is one of Mexico's most important institutions of higher learning; highly prestigious in the social sc ...
in 2006. He has received over twenty national and international awards. These include the International Drawing Prize Joan Miró in Barcelona (1985), grand prize at the I Biennial of Miami (1986), Salón Nacional de Pintura prize (1987), grand prize of the VI Festival del Centro Histórico in Mexico City (1990), San Juan Bautista Medal from the Universidad de La Salle in Mexico City (1999), Cangrejo de Oro from the city of Tampico (2002), Key to the City and the Silver Gardina from the state of
Nayarit Nayarit (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its ...
(2004), first prize for painting at the International Art Contest in Australia (2005) and first prize at the Artelista Contest in Barcelona, Spain (2006). Other recognitions include membership in the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte from 1993 to 2000, as well as membership in the
Salón de la Plástica Mexicana Salón de la Plástica Mexicana (Hall of Mexican Fine Art; ''SPM'') is an institution dedicated to the promotion of Mexican contemporary art. It was established in 1949 to expand the Mexican art market. Its first location was in historic center o ...
. In 1991, José Alfredo Botaya filmed a documentary about the artist and in 2000, musician Francisco Téllez composed a series based on Jazzamoart's work. In 2009, the city of Irapuato opened the Jazzamoart Gallery and La Rana Editorial publishes a book of his art called “Jazzamaoart” with texts by Carlos Montemayor and Jorge Juanes. His work can be found as part of the collection of the Museum of Latin American Art in Los Angeles.


Artistry

Jazzamoart has created oils,
graphic art A category of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional, i.e. produced on a flat surface.
, ink, acrylics,
watercolors Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
, pastels, pencil and carbon drawings, sculptures in wood, metal and ceramics, toys, Judas figures, rug designs, masks, stage scenery,
piñata A piñata (, ) is a container, often made of papier-mâché, pottery, or cloth, that is decorated, filled with candy, and then broken as part of a celebration. Piñatas are commonly associated with Mexico. The idea of breaking a container fille ...
s,
Day of the Dead The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...
altars, and designs for boxes, suitcases, ties, dresses and furniture. According to his website, his work is “intimately related to music, men’s passions and the every way of life.” His main inspiration is jazz music, jazz musicians and their lives, with about eighty percent of his work related to this. He has said that while other artists have used the music as inspiration, he does not think there is anyone who dedicates as much to it as he does. His painting often is a visualization of music with colors and forms substituting for tones and rhythm. For him, painting is performance. He paints to music with his hand and brush mimicking the music and considered the music essential to his art. "I try to capture in paint the sounds and images of the music and the personalities of the musicians," he says. His approach to painting is rapid and gestural. Most of his jazz paintings have a jazzed, nervous quality, with figures and images look uncontrolled. Other works are calmer, such as some of his nightclub scenes. Many of his pieces are titled after pieces of jazz music and he also gives live performances of his painting with a band. He is a member of the generation of Mexican artists born in the 1950s. The focus on jazz was a way to help the young artist distinguish himself from his teachers of the
Generación de la Ruptura Generación de la Ruptura (Breakaway Generation) is the name given by art critic Teresa del Conde to the generation of Mexican artists against the established Mexican muralism, Mexican School of Painting, more commonly called Mexican muralism post ...
. Carlos Montemayer calls him the third great painter out of the Bajío region of Guanajuato along with
Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
and
José Chávez Morado José Chávez Morado (4 January 1909 – 1 December 2002) was a Mexican artist who was associated with the Mexican muralism movement of the 20th century. His generation followed that of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqu ...
. His work has been described as
Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
and figurative with an abstract quality. His influences include Picasso,
Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...
,
Rufino Tamayo Rufino del Carmen Arellanes Tamayo (August 25, 1899 – June 24, 1991) was a Mexican painter of Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico.Sullivan, 170-171Ades, 357 Tamayo was active in the mid-20th century in Mexico and New York, ...
,
José Luis Cuevas José Luis Cuevas (February 26, 1934 – July 3, 2017) was a Mexican artist, he often worked as a painter, writer, draftsman, engraver, illustrator, and printmaker. Cuevas was one of the first to challenge the then dominant Mexican muralism ...
and José Clemente Orozco. Elements from each of these can be seen in paintings with the music used as a unifying aspect. The
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
appears most often in his work, which he considers to be sophisticated and sensual like a sculpture. He even collects saxophones but says he cannot play well. He also plays the drums. He has an affinity for
Mexican handcrafts and folk art Mexican handcrafts and folk art is a complex collection of items made with various materials and intended for utilitarian, decorative or other purposes. Some of the items produced by hand in this country include ceramics, wall hangings, vases, fu ...
, especially masks which is a recurring feature in his work and the jazz musicians often have mask-like features. The use of the mask symbolized the multiplicity of human identity, that life is improvisation and invention. Other inspirations for his art include his family, bullfighting,
cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...
and soccer. In 1994, he dedicated much of his art to bullfighting topics and in 2002 he worked on a series based on soccer. In 2010 he held an exhibition called “Pasión por la pintura y el futbol” (Passion for paintings and soccer) with included painted balls along with more traditional works. His 1995 monumental sculpture in West Hollywood was about the fight against AIDS . For Mexico's Bicentennial in 2010, he held an exhibition called “ Todos somos héroes” (We are all heroes) dealing with Mexico's history .


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jazzamoart 1951 births Living people 20th-century Mexican painters Mexican male painters 21st-century Mexican painters 20th-century Mexican male artists 21st-century Mexican male artists