Gráfica Contemporánea Mexicana
In the Zone!
Propulsion Network presents: Three collectives of printmaking artists from Mexico city and Oaxaca.
September 7 – 25 2023
Address: 818 SW 1 Ave. Portland, OR.
Mexican artists curated by Propulsion Network printmaking exhibit in Portland Oregon.
Feature Artists
Cocotzin Prieto
Cocotzin Prieto (CDMX, 1983).
Bachelor of Fine Arts by the National School of Fine Arts, where she also taught the photography workshop from 2007 to 2010. Master of Fine Arts by the College of Arts and Design by the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Her life in the arts has allowed her to show her work in different places in Mexico as well as international galleries; she has had multiple solo exhibits amongst which are the show Corpus, in the Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas y Diseño, in La Habana, Cuba (2014), as well as more than 30 group shows in different national and international venues, such as the Hommage à la Femme, at L’espace 33, in Paris, France.
At the same time, she has done research in gender studies as a complement to her artwork, in which the discourse of the definition of female identity is centered around women’s own experiences, and has been fundamental in proposing alternatives to the construction of symbols and their meaning. As part of that, she has taught printmaking workshops for women, in collaboration with different institutions such as Solidaridad Internacional Kanda and the European Union.
While looking to fuse her knowledge of photography and printmaking, she participates in workshops and collectives in the Oaxacan Mixteca, where she has lived for the last 3 years, working as a cultural promoter and artist.
She has taught courses and master printmaking classes in different institutions, such as the Instituto Superior de Arte de La Habana, in Cuba, and female self representation workshops in the State of Oaxaca; she has also collaborated with several institutions in conferences and seminaries about gender, within which are the III Coloquio de Arte y Género by the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, the first Encuentro Nacional de Mujeres en las Intervenciones de las Calles, and the conferences: Construcción y apropiación de la postura feminista and La Jornada de las Mujeres en Lucha y Resistencia 8M.
She has participated in several graphic portfolios organized in Mexico City and the State of Oaxaca. Since 2019, she collaborates in the Centro Cultural de Tlaxiaco, in which she is in charge of the Oficina de Difusión y Vinculación, as well as the programming and curating of the gallery in said space. She’s the co-founder of the printmaking workshop Trinchera Gráfica, by the group Chalanes de la Cultura, and forms part of the feminist collective Acción Mujeres Savi.
Eric Pozos Vásquez
Eric Pozos Vásquez
Born in Santa María Asunción Tlaxiaco, in the State of Oaxaca, he holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He was part of the ASARO Collective (Assembly of Revolutionary Artists from Oaxaca) during its last 4 years in operation, as wella s the URTARTE Collective (Revolutionary Union of Art Workers), who is the head of the TAC (Community Art Workshop). He is currently active in the Subterráneos Collective, which acts as an open-to-the-public school and specializes in monumental graphics. He’s also in the Trinchera Gráfica Collective, which operates in his place of origin, Tlaxiaco.
He started working as a portrait artist from an early age; however, when he discovered his passion for printmaking, he decided to follow the path of graphics. The main objective of this work is based in social problems, current phenomena and in retaking the cosmovision of his culture, resignify it, reappropriate it, validate it, and make it current in a globalized world that’s insensible to minorities, elements which permeate his process and results. In this manner, his work acts as a voice that promotes the traditions of his community, as the critical work of a creator who is dedicated to the social, cultural and economic problems of his country, always keeping evident in it his roots and the love for his traditions.
His work has been spread, mostly, by participating in exhibits and institutions such as the National Stamp Museum in Mexico, the CASA (Center for the Arts of San Agustin), the IAGO (Graphic Arts Institute of Oaxaca), among other national venues, as well as cultural spaces in Washington and in countries such as Colombia, United States, Peru, Brazil and Canada.
Fausto xaro
His graphic work alludes to a vision that establishes a relationship of its characters with nature, as the principle of unity by opposition to modernity and its dominion. He intertwines elements of popular culture with characters and stories of daily life without leaving aside the political and social aspect of it.
He has participated in collective exhibits nationally and in international events such as Print Pop Up in Chicago, in april of 2022.
Indiosindios
Juan Fernando Romero López. Indiosindios.
Graduate of the Economics program by the UAM (Metropolitan Autonomous University) in Xochimilco, and taken to printmaking as a means of life. After the disappointment of office life, I have decided to change my life and take the brushes and pencils as tools of my craft, and for my need to express ideas.
In 2003, a friend introduced me to Master José Luis Martínez of the Printmaking Workshop Cuauhximalpan, in which I started to delve into printmaking. That’s where I began my life as a professional artist, being that I’ve drawn my whole life. After working for 10 years in said workshop, I became independent and opened a studio by the name Tlayolli, which lasted about 2 years. More recently, I participated in the Tzompantli Workshop.
The theme of my work is mostly rebellious, although I like to work with the topics of music, animals, and popular traditions. I have participated in several exhibits in the most diverse places, such as Quinceañeras, table dances, barricades, political gatherings, stand-ins, as well as in galleries; the most recent in June of 2022 in Portland, Oregon, and before that, in Spain at the La Mera AC gallery.
Iván Mendoza
Pinche Mono (Age: 33)
Had his first encounter with printmaking in early 2016, in a graphics production studio in Oaxaca; upon his return to Mexico City, he attended different workshops to better understand the techniques. In 2016 he enrolls in Faro de Indios Verdes, in 2017 he starts producing his own work in the printmaking workshop Ajolote, under master Noe Vásquez. A year of assisting and being constant in the learning process continues in the painting and printmaking workshop of master Gilberto Peña, in the Colonia Guerrero neighborhood; there, he shows good control on relief techniques, gravure and printing. He then starts a printing project by the name of La Tuna de Piedra where he continues his learning by printing the work of different artists. In 2019 he is selected for the National Miniprint Contest in Oaxaca, and in 2021 he participates in the exhibit Mano de Obra: oficios en la gráfica mexicana, siglos XX y XXI, at the National Stamp Museum.
Susana González
Susana Lilia González Sonck. I’m a visual artist from Mexico City, with a background in photography from the ENAP UNAM (National School of Fine Arts of the National Autonomous University of Mexico) with a Master of Fine Arts from the San Carlos Academy. I have developed techniques of textile dyes, which has taken me to the knowledge of coloring plants, which I experimented with in the State of Oaxaca. Since by undergrad studies, I participated in several printmaking workshops, which I’ve been currently exploring.
Rebeca Jiménez
Rebeca Jiménez Marcos. Bachelor of Philosophy from the School of Philosophy of the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) and printmaking graduate from the School of Handicrafts of the INBAL. She has worked as a printmaker for the past 4 years, and has collaborated in art, feminist, and anarchist collectives, with work in communities, as well as in the elaboration of graphic portfolios with a social theme, printmaking exhibits, and workshops to spark an interest in the arts. The topics she touches on are related to women and their relationship with nature, as well as topics focused in mysticism and magic.
Violeta Juárez
Violeta Juárez. Niña Calavera (CDMX, 1988).
Graphic Artist. Graphics Communication Designer from the UAM (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana) in Azcapotzalco. Her graphic production focuses in relief printmaking on linoleum, and it delves into death and the feminine. She’s part of the collective PRINTERAS, and has participated in group exhibits in Mexico and internationally.
Yokebed Islas
Yokebed Islas (CDMX, 1998).
Visual artist and ruins expert of the city. Her work goes from drawing, to printmaking and photography, from her travels in the city through time, basing it on her personal and family memories.
She’s a founding member and editor of Saca la Lengua Fanzine, and she’s part of the Women Graphic Circle: PRINTERAS and also E*S*P*O*R*A*S: Festival Esporádico de Fanzine. She has collaborated in interdisciplinary projects such as the musical album Mar de Almas de Tlaloque and the choreographic project Micropolis, by Arely Landeros. She’s currently part of Estudio Mezquite, a space where she works on her graphic projects.
Her work has been published by independent and university publications, such as the Revista Enchiridion (Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro) and Punto de Partida (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). She has had solo exhibits in Mexico City and has been in group exhibits in Mexico, Argentina and Canada.
La muestra “ Surcos del presente” nos presenta varios paralelismos de obra artística proveniente de diferentes colectivos de Mexico. Buscando un horizonte para emerger de las vicisitudes los artistas en éste proceso histórico dan forma a esta exposición que se presenta en Propulsion Nextwork en su nueva galeria the Zone Gallery en el centro historico de la ciudad de Portland.
Aqui se le entrega al público de Oregon una muestra del trabajo que se hace en territorio mexicano tanto en el centro como en el sur con tópicos y planteamientos de diversa índole que dan forma a esta alianza artística entre culturas desplegadas de forma geografica en este trabajo plástico. La mezcla briosa de personalidades y tecnicas a través del tadicional grabado como base se plasma en esta propuesta grafica.
5 de Mayo “ Surcos del presente” fue introducida en Woodburn Oregon como parte de la Galeria Propulsion Mobil.
5 De Mayo in Woodburn Oregon, Files of the present was presented as part of the Propulsion Mobile Gallery.