Roberto Cortazar
Encyclopedia
Roberto Cortazar is a Mexican
painter. He was born on January 12, 1962, in Mexico City
, but grew up in the southern state of Chiapas
, Mexico
. He lives and works in his studio in Mexico City.
2009: National Museum of Art. Cortazar was the first living artist invited by the Mexican National Museum of Art to exhibit by rendering a reinterpretation of one of Mexico‟s greatest Masters: Jose Clemente Orozco. Roberto Cortazar was the first living artist to exhibit in the Museum as part of their programme to revisit and reinvigorate the museums great masters collection. His latest museum exhibition was held at the Museo Dolores Olmedo
in Mexico City in 2011.
, who for has written for, among others, the New York Times, Artnews
, Art in America
, Art & Antiques, Art + Auction, and the Japan Times, has followed Roberto Cortazar's career closely and has published several articles and a book on his work. In 1999, he wrote extensively of Cortazar's clasical approach and meticolous technique. In, 2009 Gomez participated in the publication of. In his Reinventing the Master: Cortazar's Variations on Orozco's Themes, Gomez writes "...Cortázar, whose art is rooted in Mexico’s long, rich tradition of figurative image-making (a tradition that stretches back to the region’s ancient civilizations), has never primarily been motivated by any theory or any aesthetic doctrines. Instead, the art-making language he has developed, with its unique blend of figurative and abstract elements, has evolved out of his technical experiments as a painter and draftsman, and out of his investigation and assimilation of a variety of influences, from the economical, expressive lines of such modern masters as Picasso and Matisse to the figure altering techniques of the Irish-born, British painter Francis Bacon
. Like Bacon, who once remarked that “flesh is the reason oil painting was invented,” Cortázar approaches and handles his materials in a way that is both elegant and visceral".
s, having been to over fifteen across the USA, Latin America
, and Europe
. He became almost a permanent fixture at Art Miami with Praxis Gallery, where he exhibited every year from 1994 to 2006, ten of these solo shows where his works were acquired by American and European collectors. He is quoted by Laura Meyers in her review of art gallerist as one of the "IT" artists that opened up mexican contemporary art to the international fair scene. In 2006, Cortazar would draw himself from the commercial market to focus his production of two academic projects in collaboration with [#Museum projects|museums in Mexico]].
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
painter. He was born on January 12, 1962, in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, but grew up in the southern state of Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. He lives and works in his studio in Mexico City.
Academic training and activities
Roberto Cortazar commenced his academic training in 1976 at the National School of Arts and continued his academic studies at the National School of Painting and Sculpture with a grant from the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico. Later on, he collaborated with numerous academic institutions giving lectures, conferences, seminars and advisory covering historic, philosophical and theoretical aspects of art, including, being a key contributor to the renewal of the academic plan for the Mexican National School of Fine Arts. From 1989 to 1993, he was a founding member of the Consultative Council for the Mexican National Foundation for Culture and the Arts (CONACULTA). During these years, he was jurer for the National Plan for Creators and the National Fund for Plastic Arts.Museum projects
2006–2008: “Saturn and the Parricides”, presented at the Museo Amparo. The project explored the philosophical and moral roots of tyrnacids and parricides. Works were inspired in Greek mythology and a decomposition of the theme of Goya's “Saturn Devouring his Son”. The itinerant exhibition would then travel to the main museums in Mexico, including the Museum of Contemporary art, which portrays a clear introduction to the project: "In the course of his art history studies, Cortázar came upon Francisco Goya's Saturn , which addresses the myth of the god who devoured all of his children to prevent them from overthrowing him. He later found a variation on the theme in the tyrannoktoni or Tyrannicides , the Athenian group of statues depicting a historical event: the murder of the tyrant Hipparcus by Aristogeiton and Harmodios. Musing over these works, he reached the conclusion that the history of art is far removed from the history of man, who writes the latter as a retelling of the battle to gain ascendancy over another, whereas art calls into question this exercise of power and plumbs the truth of human ideology". According the curator: "In Cortázar's view, his characters' inner struggle is, likewise, the struggle that man must brave to achieve evolution, to cast off the primitive thirst for power that compelled Saturn to devour his children and drove Athenians to do away with Hipparcus".2009: National Museum of Art. Cortazar was the first living artist invited by the Mexican National Museum of Art to exhibit by rendering a reinterpretation of one of Mexico‟s greatest Masters: Jose Clemente Orozco. Roberto Cortazar was the first living artist to exhibit in the Museum as part of their programme to revisit and reinvigorate the museums great masters collection. His latest museum exhibition was held at the Museo Dolores Olmedo
Museo Dolores Olmedo
The Museo Dolores Olmedo is an art museum in the capital of Mexico, based on the collection of the Mexican businesswoman Dolores Olmedo.- History :...
in Mexico City in 2011.
A critic's view
Edward M. Gomez, an art criticArt critic
An art critic is a person who specializes in evaluating art. Their written critiques, or reviews, are published in newspapers, magazines, books and on web sites...
, who for has written for, among others, the New York Times, Artnews
ARTnews
ARTnews is an arts magazine based in New York, founded by James Clarence Hyde in 1902 as Hyde’s Weekly Art News. It is published 11 times a year.ARTnews covers all art, from ancient to Post-modernism...
, Art in America
Art in America
Art in America is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It is designed for collectors, artists, dealers, art professionals and other...
, Art & Antiques, Art + Auction, and the Japan Times, has followed Roberto Cortazar's career closely and has published several articles and a book on his work. In 1999, he wrote extensively of Cortazar's clasical approach and meticolous technique. In, 2009 Gomez participated in the publication of. In his Reinventing the Master: Cortazar's Variations on Orozco's Themes, Gomez writes "...Cortázar, whose art is rooted in Mexico’s long, rich tradition of figurative image-making (a tradition that stretches back to the region’s ancient civilizations), has never primarily been motivated by any theory or any aesthetic doctrines. Instead, the art-making language he has developed, with its unique blend of figurative and abstract elements, has evolved out of his technical experiments as a painter and draftsman, and out of his investigation and assimilation of a variety of influences, from the economical, expressive lines of such modern masters as Picasso and Matisse to the figure altering techniques of the Irish-born, British painter Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon (painter)
Francis Bacon , was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw imagery. Bacon's painterly but abstract figures typically appear isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds...
. Like Bacon, who once remarked that “flesh is the reason oil painting was invented,” Cortázar approaches and handles his materials in a way that is both elegant and visceral".
Art fairs
Roberto Cortazar has been a regular participant in art fairArt fair
An art fair is a commercial exhibition that shows the work of artists or art dealers. Each entrant has to pay a fee.Art fairs are not to be confused with art exhibitions. Exhibitions are organised by curators....
s, having been to over fifteen across the USA, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. He became almost a permanent fixture at Art Miami with Praxis Gallery, where he exhibited every year from 1994 to 2006, ten of these solo shows where his works were acquired by American and European collectors. He is quoted by Laura Meyers in her review of art gallerist as one of the "IT" artists that opened up mexican contemporary art to the international fair scene. In 2006, Cortazar would draw himself from the commercial market to focus his production of two academic projects in collaboration with [#Museum projects|museums in Mexico]].
Collections
Roberto Cortazar works are in public and private collections. He is one of the few contemporary artists for the National Heritage "La Coleccion". His early work from the 1990s, clasicly depicted images of the human body, have been particularly coveted. Eugenio Lopez Alonso bought a Cortazar as his first painting in 1990 and since has built Coleccion Jumex, one of the largest and most prominent colections in the world.Publications
- Los Desmembrados Según Orozco (Dismemberment according to Orozco). National Museum of Art. National Insititute of Fine Arts Publishing, 2009.
- "Saturn in the World of the Parricides”. Mexico. Landucci, Editores, 2005.
- Roberto Cortázar: 344 Figures and One in One Space. Gomez, Edward M. México. Landucci Editores, 2001.
- Postmodernity and Romanticism. Roberto Cortázar. National Council for Culture and the Arts. National Institute of Fine Arts, 1995.
External links
- Roberto Cortazar website
- The Arts: under Canvas from Conde Nast
- Roberto Cortazar's Atelier, YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....