Ambos Lados International Print Exchange: Printmaking in Oaxaca

Right now Oaxaca has become a kind of Mecca of printmaking, maybe like what Paris was to painters in the second half of the 19th century. We consider it a big privilege to be exchanging prints with Oaxacan artists.

Wheat pasted prints in Oaxaca

Printmakers in Oaxaca

believe the street is the best gallery

The Oaxaca Carpeta in particular, has been a big inspiration to us. The collection contain prints by many of the best young Mexican printmakers. We bought both portfolios from Irving Herrera, who put the whole project together.

Oaxaca Collective

(Carpeta Nacional de Estampa en Mexico)

~ 2 portfolios with mezal ~

However besides Irving Herrera, there are many great young printmakers currently working out of Oaxaca, such as MK Kabrito (Alan Altamarino), Edith Chavez, Ivan Bautista, Mario Guzman, Ceasar Chavez, just to mention a few.

We met many of these young printmakers on our first visit to Oaxaca in December 2014, being guided by Kevin McCloskey's blog post in Printeresting.

We bought many prints in 2014

at Espacio Zapata in Oaxaca

ORIGINS
of printmaking in Oaxaca

The current printmaking impulse probably goes back to the protests of 2006 in Oaxaca City, when the young artists formed the group ASARO (Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaca) and made prints supporting their political cause. In fact, right before going to Oaxaca in 2014, we saw many of those prints at the ASARO print exhibition at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque --"Getting Up P'al Pueblo" -- curated by Dr. Suzanne M. Schadl of UNM, and Mike Graham de la Rosa.

YouTube video of ASARO prints

from the 2006 conflict in Oaxaca

However printmaking has been significant in Oaxaca long before ASARO. In 1974 the

Taller de Artes Plásticas Rufino Tamayo school was founded, specializing in printmaking. We visited the school in 2014, but it has since moved out of downtown Oaxaca.

We bought a print portfolio

by these students at Taller Tamayo school

The famous Oaxacan artist and printmaker Francisco Toledo has had a huge impact promoting printmaking in Oaxaca In addition to being part of the push to start the Taller Tamayo, he established IAGO (Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca) in downtown Oaxaca 1988.

And in 2006 Francisco Toledo opened CaSa ( Centro de las Artes de San Agustín) outside the city of Oaxaca.

Gallery inside IAGO

showing the prints of the

French studio "Le Dernier Cri"

And of course, the tradition of printmaking in Mexico goes back to Taller Grafica Popular since 1937, run by Leopoldo Mendez; and Jose Guadalupe Posada before that; and even back to the beginning of the Royal Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City, founded first as a school of engraving, in 1781.

Leopoldo Mendez

of Taller Grafica Popular

showing in Oaxaca

First Encounter with

TALLER GRAFICA LIBRE

Our next interaction with Oaxaca was when Francisco Delgado went down there to do his large relief print for the Desert Triangle Print Carpeta in the summer of 2105.

Francisco Delgado

with his large relief print made in Oaxaca

for the Desert Triangle Print Carpeta

His print was produced by the new Taller Grafica Libre. Adrian Aguirre and Beatriz Rivas ran the taller (studio) from their apartment, which then was in downtown Oaxaca.

Adrian Aguirre working on a small print of Francisco's,

as Francisco Delgado looks on

The print studio was in the largest room

of their small apartment

In addition to making prints, Nidia Rosales gave Francisco a show at Espacio Centro in Oaxaca.

Francisco following Nidia

into Espacio Centro in Oaxaca

This print residency in Oaxaca was arranged with the help of Pavel Acevedo in Riverside, California. Pavel is in Oaxaca Carpeta as he is originally from Oaxaca, and his work is also in the Desert Triangle Print Carpeta. He also submitted to the Ambos Lados International Print Exchange

Pavel Acevedo with his daughter,

in Riverside, California

in front of the Oaxaca Carpeta

Taller Grafica Libre also created an international portfolio -- Carpeta: Gráfica Transfronteriza -- which Francisco participated in, with 2 prints that he did during this residency.

Francisco Delgado's two prints in the

Carpeta: Gráfica Transfronteriza

ZAACHILA

TALLER GRAFICA LIBRE

By 2016, Taller Grafica Libre had moved their studio to Zaachila, outside the city of Oaxaca.

Zaachila has loads of murals

Toru Sugita came from San Francisco to do a residency at Taller Grafica Libre in Zaachila (though he stayed in Oaxaca City). Toru later contributed a print to the Ambos Lados International Print Exchange.

Toru Sugita

printing at Taller Grafica Libre

in Zaachila

Toru Sugita

working at Taller Grafica Libre

in Zaachila in 2016/17

Toru also had a print exhibition at Espacio Centro.

Toru Sugita also had a print show

in Espacio Centro in Oaxaca

Shinzaburo Takeda

Shinzaburo Takeda is somewhat of a legend, as he taught many of the outstanding younger generation of print masters at the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juarez de Oaxaca Facultad de Bellas Artes.

Toru Sugita with Shinzaburo Takeda

at his opening in Espacio Centro

There is a huge prestigous Shinzaburo Takeda Biennial of Printmaking that has gone on for at least 10 years in Mexico.

We bought and showed this print

by Shinzaburo Takeda

TALLERES

Studios

There are plenty of other "talleres," or studios in Oaxaca, besides Taller Grafica Libre. In Mexico printmakers are resourceful, working out of their living room (using their press as a dining table); or from a bit bigger community space; or in the most fantastical scenario, taking over a whole hacienda, like La Ceiba Grafica did in Coatepec (outside of Jalapa, Veracruz).

Mexican printmakers usually work in collectives, or small groups. And there seems to be enough opportunities, either with public spaces or in small private collectives, that an artist can become a printmaker easily enough. At least this is the way it seems as I peer over the border from the US.

Click this link to see more studios in Mexico

Printmaking also seems to build a stronger communities in Mexico. Again that is coming from a long distance view from the United States.

EXHIBITION SPACES

It also seems like there are more spaces to exhibit in Mexico, more opportunities to show, than there are in the United States. There are small galleries like Espacio Centro (thank you very much Nidia Rosales, for running this space). And there are larger spaces, like old convents that the government allows artists to exhibit in.