Galleria Dante begins 14th Season

There are always lots of new artist profiles to review, and never enough wall space for all the great artists who present their works. Many of the current stable of artists are experimenting in new mediums to offer the customer the possibility to continue collecting, even in a troubled economy. The local Art market has continued to increase over the past 5 years, and will continue to grow this season. Much art is a good investment and for many collectors has been one of the most stable markets to invest in. Mexican art and it’s artists are passionate, as are the people who collect their works.

This month we received new art by almost every artist. New works are arriving this month by Alvaro Zardoni, Luis Valui, Oscar Zamarripa, Pipo Brockman among others.

Twenty new paintings this week by Oscar Solis, Juana Cortez and Libertad Solis. When asked, Oscar Solis states: “ After years of painting portraits, horses, Africans, I want to make a break again. I want to play in a looser style. I want the freedom to explore, the courage to experiment and of course I want the sales so I have the confidence to continue. Artists are plagued with the constant insecurity of “will there be a market for my works?” Sometimes it is exactly that which holds us back. When I visit the gallery, I want to sculpt, explore other mediums. The gallery inspires me to paint and to better my works”.

Oscar Zamarripa – to know him is to love him. The saying a photo is worth a thousand words, well a smile by Oscar works the same way. Having been creating art for 40 years or more and still coming up with new styles. His famous two-sided stone sculptures with bronze heads, his bronze-headed bowling balls & cue balls, his use of semi-precious stones, seashells, lava glass and silver. You wonder when this man sleeps. And if you can’t afford one of his masterpieces, he does one of a kind jewelry.

Israel ZZepda, surreal artist from Guadalajara not only paints, but sculpts. Israel leaves a description of his pieces so that the gallery can explain his meanings to all those interested. When asked where he gets his ideas, he states: “ When I was young, my grandmother used to tell me lots of stories. And those stories still play out in his mind and he pulls from that catalogue of memories when he paints.” He does not sketch out his work on the canvas. He begins by painting one element and then from there more images appear. He used to paint a portrait, but he feels that too much realism caused people to focus on one particular image and not the meaning in his painting. So now he paints his female figures from memory, sometimes exaggerating the details, so that the over- all message in his paintings is more prominent than anyone figure.

Paintings by Leticia Schmidt, new to the gallery this season, she not only paints abstracts, but her encaustic works are mesmerizing. There is so much detail in the layers that you want to take a magnifying glass to make sure you do not miss anything. The colors are warm earth tones, which are a nice balance to the bright primary colors used by many Mexican artists. We will advise you in advance when Leticia will be visiting the gallery, as she is a delightful, young woman.

Galleria Dante is open Monday – Friday, 10am to 5pm at Basilio Badillo 269.