About Siqueiros

Collaborative painting with artist Poesia.

I recently came together with artist Poesia to create a homage to David Alfaro Siqueiros.

 About the artist and his techniques

As a prominent painter and political activist, David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896 -1974) was an integral member of the Mexican School of Painting along with Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. He continues to be viewed as one of the most important Mexican artists of the 20th century although his artistic influence spread far beyond Mexico’s borders. 

Siqueiros organized artists in both Mexico and abroad to promote the idea of creating collective works. At the beginning of the 20th century, under the protection of Mexico’s Secretary of Public Education, he created his first decorative mural. He advocated using art as a political tool and thought that mural art should be used as a public service for el pueblo (the community). As an active member of the Mexican Communist Party, Siqueiros fought as a colonel in the Mexican Revolution and again in the Spanish Civil War. He also fought for the rights of laborers and on several occasions his political activities put him in jail and even led to exile. 

Siqueiros passionately declared his artistic and political views in public, arguing endlessly at conferences and in his writing. Although Siqueiros is represented in the historic canon of modern Mexican art as one of the leading proponents of public art for social action--largely due to his mural painting--it was through his easel painting that he studied an extensive variety of techniques and styles that allowed him to examine pictorial space, composition, light, shadow and color. 

In addition to his exploration of techniques and styles, Siqueiros constantly experimented with new tools and materials. Of utmost importance is the technical aspect of the works of art included in this exhibition. After discovering various types of industrial materials produced in the United States in the 1930s, Siqueiros’ produced most of his easel works with uncommon materials which include Duco paint, a DuPont brand name for pyroxilin paint, a tough and resilient type of nitro-cellulose paint manufactured for the automotive industry. Also utilized was vinylite paint, a type of lacquer with a vinyl base used for easel paintings or as a primer for mural works. Rarely working on canvas, Siqueiros preferred to paint on various types of composite wood surfaces such as Masonite, because of its low cost, ease of preparation, durability and receptiveness to pyroxilin and acrylic paints. The use of these industrial materials

Source: Museum of Latin American Art

 

Love From Hawai'i

A recent commission for a collector in Hawai'i. I had fun and learned a lot doing this painting. I'm very grateful that the collector respected my space as an artist in that they had no special requests as to how the work would turn out, just that I do what I felt. When they approached me, I simply picked a handful of my daily sketches which I intended to make into paintings, and they selected their favorite. These are in most cases, the only commissions I will accept since I'm no longer 100% interested in portraying specific people. Sometimes I will do a recognizable personality, but even then I prefer not to render exactly what's there. For me the face is a starting point in a process of construction and deconstruction. 

Oakland Museum Update

This is part 1 of 2 walls I am painting for the Oakland Museum of California. The walls are for their annual Dia De Los Muertos exhibit which opens this fall. I had to get an early start on it because they requested to use it to promote the show. The title of this piece is Tree of Life and Death. It's inspired by Life Cycles as defined in science and a modern interpretation of pre-conquest, Dia De Los Muertos and buddhist images. Life Cycles basically apply to all things living and are characterized by change, life itself, growth and death. The tree motif is a reference to the civic logo of Oakland. Together with the curator of the exhibit Eduardo Pineda, I wanted to connect natural sciences to Dia De Los Muertos, and I feel we accomplished that in this piece. I will post more updates as soon as the piece is installed at OMCA. Thanks for viewing!

Quotes On Humility

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.
C. S. Lewis

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.
Thomas Merton

A sarcastic person has a superiority complex that can be cured only by the honesty of humility.
Lawrence G. Lovasik

Humility and knowledge in poor clothes excel pride and ignorance in costly attire.
William Penn

There is no respect for others without humility in one's self.
Henri Frederic Amiel

Humility is truth.
Desiderius Erasmus
Truth

Quotes On Identity

The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose.
-Richard Grant

I'm not a big fan of identity politics and sort of picking one thing and defining yourself with it.
-Andrej Pejic

I come from a country and also a continent whose identity is in the making. We're a very young culture, and I think that things are not yet crystallised.
-Walter Salles

An un-named song is like an un-named child, it has no identity.
-Robyn Hitchcock

You have to be able to risk your identity for a bigger future than the present you are living.
-Fernando Flores

We don't need a melting pot in this country, folks. We need a salad bowl. In a salad bowl, you put in the different things. You want the vegetables - the lettuce, the cucumbers, the onions, the green peppers - to maintain their identity. You appreciate differences.
-Jane Elliot

Materialism is an identity crisis.
-Bryant H. McGill

My potential is more than can be expressed within the bounds of my race or ethnic identity.
-Arthur Ashe

You're an island no matter what you do. I think it's very dangerous to use popularity as your identity in life. So you have to really know who you are inside, the core person, and follow what is true rather than follow what is hype.
-Donny Osmond