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Santo Domingo Church in Oaxaca
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CONTEMPORARY OAXACAN ARTISTS 
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Contemporary Oaxacan painting is akin to the famous Tule tree. Its deep roots are lost in ancient pre-Columbian traditions. The wide, robust trunck can only pertain to the founder of modern painting: Rufino Tamayo. Further on up, two branches stretch skyward: Francisco Toledo and Rodolfo Morales. In the painting of the former— now considered the greatest living Mexican artist— real and imaginary beings live together, as well as their most diverse combinations. Morales, in turn, delves into the everyday life of the towns of Oaxaca, into the color of their marketplaces and into the simplicity of its popular art. Toledo is the deep brush of Oaxaca, of myths and legends, of impossible beings. Morales is the core, his world revolves around the music and fiestas. There are endless numbers of new painters, each with his own style. Names such as Lius Zárate, Sergio Hernández, Maximinio Javier and Irma Guerrero start to ring a bell in the galleries of the city of Oaxaca. In all of them, you perceive a single rhythm: the heartbeat of a past ranging from Tamayo's oil paintings and Nieto's collages to Monte Albán's dancers and Dianzú's ball-game players. All of them are betting on revamping tradition and succumbing to it, that is, their painting goes beyond local color and folklore. Each pays attention to the words of the master Rufino: "You have to have your feet planted firmly -stuck in, if necessary - on the land, but you also must have your eyes and ears and mind open, scrutinizing the horizons."
Francisco Toledo
Francisco Toledo is quite influential among contemporary Mexican artists (Rufino Tamayo has credited him with creating a new school of artistic expression). Toledo has been well known in Mexican art circles for the last 22 years. A list of his influences would include Paul Klee and Jean Debuffet; however, his work never becomes completely abstract.
Toledo’s art is imbued with his Mexican heritage of history and mythology. He has exhibitied at numerous museums and galleries in Europe, Mexico, South and North America and Asia. He is represented in public and private collections worldwide.
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He was born July 17, 1940 in Minatitlan, Oaxaca and began working in Mexico in the Taller Libre de Grabado of the E.D.A., a subsidiary of the National Institute of Fine Arts. c.1959. He exibited works in Mexico and Fort Worth, Texas in 1960 and then left to travel in Europe; met and worked with Stanley Hayter in Paris 1965. He returned to Mexico, began painting, lithography, engraving, sculpture, ceramics, and tapestry design (woven by artisans in Teotitlan del Valle)
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SELECTED ONE-MAN EXHIBITIONS
1981-85 Exhibited in numerous galleries in Mexico and Europe 1980 Retrospective, Museum of Art, Mexico, D.F. Over 300 works shown 1978 Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York 1977 Escuela de Bellas Artes, U.A.B.J.O., Oaxaca, Mexico 1975 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York 1968-74 Exhibited in numerous galleries in Mexico and the United States
Besides his important trajectory as an artist, Francisco Toledo is an untiring promoter interested in sponsoring and disseminating the cultural values of his native state of Oaxaca. For more than twenty years, he has been concerned with the well-being of the Oaxacan community, creating children's libraries in Indian communities, founding the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca (MACO), the Instuto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca (IAGO), the Patronato Pro-Defensa y Conservación del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural del Estado de Oaxaca (PROOAX), the Centro Fotográfico Alvarez Bravo, the Biblioteca para Invidentes Jorge Luis Borges, and the Biblioteca Francisco de Burgoa, among many other activities.
In the latter, the library of the Dominicans was revamped. One by one, all bound volumes were cleaned and cataloged, yielding an impressive collection of documents that can once again be used to better understand and explain history. With an interest in disseminating Oaxaca's regional patrimony, the magazine Acervos was created, a periodical for diverse activities involving the rescue and dissemination of documentary and bibliographic holdings currently underway in the state.
Discreet and jovial, Toledo received us in the cafeteria of the Institute of Graphic Arts of Oaxaca, where we had an interesting chat:
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Q: Could you give us your point of view about the effervescent cultural life currently in the air in Oaxaca?
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A: There are several institutions that are working and trying to do something to prepare the way for those to come. Libraries, exhibitions. We hope they'll be good for something. On the other hand, there are young and not-so-young people working arduously, especially in the field of artistic creation (...) the good thing is that time takes care of cleaning out and putting real artists in their place.
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Q: What expectations does the Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca have?
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A: We continue organizing temporary exhibitions, conference cycles and we are interested in boosting the holdings of our library, which currently has about 12,000 volumes on painting, graphics, drawing, architecture, sculpture, archeology, design, library science, popular art, textiles, ceramics, photography, film, literature, Mexican art from its origins to our days, as well as contemporary art. Moreover, we want to enrich the Institute's collection of graphic arts. At present, the holdings consist of 6,000 works both by Mexican artists and foreigners. In addition, we started organizing exhibitions at the Central Produce Market. It was a great experience and we want to continue presenting samples of art at other markets. We also want the exhibition we are organizing in the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca— entitled "Preparations for the Deluge" and whose goal is to invite Oaxacans to contribute to ending the destruction of the state's fauna— be presented in those places where the people depredate the most their natural patrimony.
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Q: Where is Francisco Toledo headed?
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A: I want to go on contributing so that the initiatives we've started can continue forward and can benefit the Oaxacan community. It is really hard for culture to be self-financing. I'd say: as long as I'm around, there will be no charge. I want people to feel what it is to have the freedom to go in, leave, do....
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Rodolfo Morales
The guiding spirit of the Oaxaca School was Rodolfo Morales , born in 1925 in the dusty village of Ocotlan. A solitary child, he became a keen observer of the world around him, and early discovered his ability to draw. His parents sent him to study at the Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City.
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Upon receiving his degree he began a career of teaching art at the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria in Mexico City. Morales worked in relative obscurity until 1975, when Rufino Tamayo took notice of his first solo exhibition in Cuernavaca and introduced him to the world. The old Oaxaca master's support led to further shows in Mexico and Europe, to critical acclaim and in time to commercial success. In 1985 Morales was able to give up teaching and return to his home village of Ocotlan to paint full-time.
In recent years Morales' paintings have been widely exhibited in Europe and the United States. He was featured in the "Aspects of Contemporary Mexican Painting" show which originated at the Americas Society in New York in 1990, "Mito y Magia in America", at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo in Monterrey, Mexico (1991) and Hechizo de Oaxaca in the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City (1992). He was included in the 1994 exhibition, "Myth and Magic: Oaxaca Past and Present", at the Palo Alto (California) Cultural Center. "Rodolfo Morales: Juegos y Evocaciones", a retrospective of Morales' work opened at the Mexican Museum in San Francisco in 1996 and toured the United States and Canada.In the spring of 1997 Rodolfo Morales joined us in Philadelphia for an exhibition of his work at Indigo Arts Gallery. In the Mexican tradition, Morales has also executed major mural commissions in public buildings in Oaxaca and Mexico City.
For all the international exposure, Morales' work remains firmly rooted in the life, landscape and mythology of his home village, ranging from the grand tableaux of his paintings and lithographs to the delicate but often humorous vignettes of his collages - constructed of silk, ribbons, lace, silver stars and assorted found labels. His collages also illustrate the children's book Angel's Kite , published by Children's Book Press. Well into his seventies, Morales used the fruits of his success to give back to the village and people which nurtured him. He established a foundation for the youth of Ocotlan, turned his home into a cultural center and financed the planting of trees and the restoration of the 16th century Dominican church in Ocotlan. The proceeds of many of the lithographs go to a fund for AIDS education in Oaxaca.
Rodolfo Morales passed away in January 2001.
In 1990, the Fundación Cultural Rodolfo Morales was created, which started with a 3,000-volume library and computer center. It sponsored the Rodolfo Morales Children's Band, in addition to purchasing percussion instruments for the Symphonic Orchestra of Oaxaca. It built a small open-air theater and made a major donation to the Teatro Macedonio Alcalá. It has also acquired four houses with the Historical Center of the city of Oaxaca. In one of those is the Galería Arte de Oaxaca, promoting the works of 21 artists, in addition to Morales himself.
In 1995 began the restoration of the church and ex-convent of Santo Domingo de Guzmán in Ocotlán, buildings dating back to sixteenth century. Since 1996, 11 buildings close to this town have been restored.
In the lovely central patio of the Galería Arte de Oaxaca, the artist Rodolfo Morales spoke with us:
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Q: When did you begin your work promoting, disseminating and rescuing the patrimony of Oaxaca?
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A: In 1962, I bought a house in Ocotlán. Maybe the oldest one in town. Then I got the idea that this house could be preserved better if it became a cultural center. Later on, I retired and came to Oaxaca. Here, everything started changing.
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Q: What are the main goals or the Fundación Cultural Rodolfo Morales?
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A: They can be summed up in three main interests: the rescue and preservation of colonial architecture, popular arts and traditions, and the ecology of the state of Oaxaca.
In the first case, we are working on several buildings. But the project yielding the most immediate results is the church and ex-convent of Santo Domingo de Guzmán (in Ocotlean). The work is almost done and the idea is to install a Museo de Arte Religioso within the Museo de Arte Popular del Estado de Oaxaca, as well as a shop, restaurant, and a space set aside for Oaxacan artisans. We also want to set up a restoration school. Insofar as popular arts and traditions are concerned, I'm interested in promoting specialties that are disappearing, such as the case of blacksmiths, carpenters, stoneworkers and plasterers. Even food has to be rescued. So we have an idea of organizing a series of activities in the Central Produce Market, such as, for example, building an oven and that every baker be given the opportunity one day of baking his bread.
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Q: What can you tell me about your work involving the rescue and preservation of Oaxaca's natural patrimony?
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A: Now we are going to give more attention to reforestation so these bald hills are filled with trees. We have already planted 7 kilometers of jacarandas along the highway from San Martín Tilcajete to Ocotlán. Last year, we planted 5,000 copal trees so that the inhabitants of San Martín can carve their alebrijes. Communal landowners have already provided 16 hectors where we are going to make a nursery featuring regional plants for producing arts and crafts.
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Q: How have the inhabitants of Ocotlean responded to Rodolfo Morales's efforts?
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A: They are surprised because no one had ever done it before. Not even I thought it would get as far as it has. We have been doing more and more every time.
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