Today we’d like to introduce you to Luis Alderete.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I am the first-born of a family of four children, I was born in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. From an early age I had an outstanding ability to draw, which made me the focus of family attention; similarly, the drawing made me popular among my schoolmates. It is in middle school when my first drawing is published, as an illustration of the poster for a school dance; which was more and more common in high school.
I was presented as an artist in October 1981 with my solo exhibition “Metamorfosis”, inaugurated in the “Calafia” Room of the Social Club and Deportivo Campestre de Tijuana. It is Professor Rubén Vizcaíno Valencia, main promoter of the culture of Baja California during the second half of the twentieth century, who supports and specifies this first exhibition, under the auspices of the Autonomous University of Baja California and the Social Club and Deportivo Campestre. Never alien to the visual arts, I left my dreams for 27 years, to study and then develop professionally as an architect until mid-2008, when I return completely and formally to the plastic creation.
As an interdisciplinary visual artist, my work has been exhibited, published and distinguished in Mexico, the United States of America, China, and Spain. Recently, I won the prize of the “XIX Plastic Biennial of Baja California”. Currently, I am founder and director of the artistic-cultural project “PAISANOS trashumantes, creadores anacrónicos… de origen disímil”.
Please tell us about your art.
Since the late 70’s my artwork has evolved and permuted from the stoic capture of the rural landscapes of the Baja California region to the kinesthetic movement of the human figure. However, my profession is not art, nor painting … it is architecture, and this has allowed me to appreciate the physical distance between humans and their environment, forming an essential part of the origin of my aesthetic appreciation for the creation of art, particularly painting. As an architect, I need the physical space to build, just as a tree to grows and forms roots; that is why I find in the shadow of a tree the direct vein that invites me to be a creator and metaphorically emulate my rural, city and human surroundings.
In my work I explore dreams, desire, time, disenchantment, grief, joy, nostalgia and many other feelings parallel to those of a writer, typical of the artist and my being; allegorically intertextualizing an association with my subjective aesthetic vision and the physical creation of the artistic work. The language of my work is simple and clear. I try to capture scenes, portraits and contemplative landscapes within an accessible and friendly language for the viewer.
The above leaves superficiality aside and adds themes that address repulsion, violence and human pain; of course without leaving behind the desire for the female figure. The techniques I use are diverse: graphite, pastel, ink, watercolor, acrylic, oil, mixed media and experimentation with materials that are adverse, diverse and of random use. During the search, I stumble over my own ideas and opinions; however, I work with them until I transform them into subjective realities. I intend for my painting to have few strokes and that the color gives life to the form and delimits its content and feeling. The intention of my work does not exist as such but rather as part of my search for the diversity of feelings, analogies, and metaphors that invite the viewer to perceive and expand on the sensations, experiences and emotions molded
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
“…por amor al arte (…for the love of art)”
Few people can live from their “artistic” work, although they regularly sacrifice their ideals to produce what the market demands. In my particular case, as an architect (retired), I work on my own creations, regardless of whether they buy them or not. So… based on my own experience, my advice is to have a “lucrative” profession and then retreat to realize your true dreams.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Most of my work is permanently displayed on my website (www.luisalderete.com).
My work can be seen in individual and/or collective exhibitions in museums (temporary exhibitions), institutional spaces and private galleries.
How can people support my work? – I do not know; I would say buying, but… this depends on the impact of my work and the economic possibilities of people, among other factors.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.luisalderete.com/
- Email: luis.alderete@live.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/l.a.alderete/
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/paisanos.a/
Image Credit:
Periodico FRONTERA
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