Featured Artists

FOW doesn't just show and distribute art from many Oaxacan artists, we have close personal relationships with quite a few. Below are some of our featured artists.

Frog
Jesus Mema Amaya

Amaya

Jesus Mema Amaya is is only 24-years-old but his drawings reflect a more mature view of life. He has had some formal training in Oaxaca City but no art school could teach his special imagination. Working mostly in pen and ink, with subtle color sometimes, Jesus always surprises one with his unique perspective of the common object.

Flamingo Mobile
Marco Antonio Abarca

Marco Antonio Abarca is an artist of incredible talent and range. Born in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico in l962, he was a trained sculptor and teacher. Several years ago his talent turned to the whimsy: modern nichos (boxes with or without doors), horses with secret compartments, puppets, free standing figures with a humorous twist (a clown, for instance, that has a little pig that pops in and out of a hat with the simple flip of a lever). He works primarily with wood and decorates his creations with fabric, metal, and found objects. Give Marco a simple idea and he takes it to a level of unbelievable creativity. He has won numerous contests, and, in July 2001, was the subject of a long feature in the Oaxacan Times.

Abarca

Alligator
Aguilino Garcia

Garcia

Aguilino Garcia comes from La Union--the most remote of the carving villages. La Union is predominately a farming community, so carving is basically an avocation. This artist, who works entirely alone, is best known for his stylistic alligators, armadillos, palm tress, and cactuses.

Cat
Francisco Morales

Francisco Morales, his wife, his daughter, and his three sons are perfectionists. Living and working in Arrazola, the carving village closest to Oaxaca City, their animals are truly unique in the time and care they take to create each one. Francisco and his youngest son, Nicholas, do most of the carving inlaying the appendages into the body rather than merely nailing them on. This tedious process makes for a completely smooth surface. Then they begin the long process of sanding, putting on a base coat, and then sanding again. After this, the objects are turned over to the oldest sons, Maximiliano and Maximino, to paint. These young men in their early 20s sit in a nicely ventilated work room listening to music and painting and painting and painting. The signature on each piece lists Maximiliano's name first--his father feeling his eldest son deserves more credit than himself--for designing their unique painting style. Francisco is truly a man of great pride and honor, and his wife, Lucia, makes the best tortillias in all of Mexico.

Morales

Circus
Danae Andrade Flores

Roman Andrade Llaguno and
Danae Andrade Flores

Roman Andrade Llaguno, a wonderfully gentle artist, was born near Oaxaca in 1959. He is happily married with two daughters and a son who many times are the subject of his painted scenes. He lives in Oaxaca, but more often paints rural life in which children may float, rats may scurry from farmers in the corn fields, and lines of shoes may inexplicably march out of the house on their own. He states unselfconsciously, "I like to paint happiness." He works with gouache on amate (bark) paper as well as paints with oils on canvas. Roman has had numerous one-man shows, and his works form part of the UNICEF collection. His middle child, Danae Andrade Flores, is only twelve-years-old and has been painting and selling her works since she was three. She, too, has had several solo shows as well as having won several competitions.