The exhibition ¨SERES DE LUZ¨ by artist Yuri Zatarain was inaugurated with great success, which is exhibited at the Museum of Painters of Oaxaca (Mupo). Oaxaca de Juarez, February 2024
The exhibition consists of 52 works, including sculptures and paintings, and will be on display for around five months in various areas.
“I am very happy to return to Oaxaca to inaugurate this work, because the state is the epicenter of culture in Mexico and I am pleased that you receive my work and, above all, enjoy it,” he said.
The artist's multidisciplinary practice extends beyond painting to include sculpture, literature and metaphysics.
“I want to tell people that when they close their eyes they can awaken the teacher inside them and another inner universe. I want to invite them to come see the exhibition and enjoy a new experience,” he noted. The use of organic materials and colors, which were not traditionally used in artistic creation,
They have been fundamental in the resurgence of contemporary painting by the artist who began to create works with immense pencil scratches, focusing on the strength and nakedness of the soul in the piece, winning nominations and awards around the world.
“I lived in this wonderful state more than 20 years ago and today I return to inaugurate this great exhibition, and I hope that visitors enjoy it, as Oaxaca is a magical land,” said the artist.
For me it is an honor that they receive my work and I am happy to return to a great city and I hope that many people can come to enjoy and above all live a new experience with art, he invited.
as a philosophical part of the human being, which is awakened when the eyes are closed and above all to the internal teacher and this in turn, the universe that lives within each person.
“I have been preparing the exhibition for two years and in Oaxaca it is the opening and launch in a magical land,” he explained.
At the inauguration he was accompanied by the municipal president of the city, Francisco Martínez Neri, authorities from the University of Jalisco and representatives of Seculta Oaxaca.
SERES DE LUZ
Will it be Magic or will be Art? How many times when I see a finished work on the canvas do I always ask myself the same question? …Since I was very child I spent a lot of time observing the lights and shadows that were projected on the walls and objects in my room. Imagining that I was discovering figures and images of faces, birds, or elephants that I associated with the formation of wrinkles in a blanket or curtain. Any place touched by the sun's rays and the light coming through my window was a great opportunity to play and discover a new object. As time went by, perhaps when I was 22 years old I discovered that at night when I slept and I had dreams and nightmares; These would later become scenes that the paintings themselves would use as canvases to “appear” seemingly out of nowhere and without me myself being able to explain the reason and, above all, how they had been captured while I was experimenting with painting with my eyes closed. Something similar to the extraordinary ability to portray a subconscious scene also carried out unconsciously in the painting. So; That way, it has always happened and that technique has become my way of freely expressing the emotions and feelings that I carry inside. The extraordinary thing about the story happens when that painted scene coincides with some place that I have never seen before or after; I realize that I am standing in the same place but now, in real life. I once met a woman and the first thing I said when I spoke to her was: You'll think I'm crazy but I have to tell you that yesterday I painted your face before I met you!! She smiled in disbelief until we went to my studio and we were impressed by that strange similarity and we were left speechless!! Years have passed and I have let life discover the places, people and objects of the scenes that are trapped in the games of light and shadows that appear in the paintings to become the BEINGS OF LIGHT that will pass through my life. Welcome!! Come and look closely when you look for these figures within my works; Maybe you will discover that it is you who was painted before you met him!! We are all BEINGS OF LIGHT and we generate brightness from within….
GUARDIANES
After many years of hard work in the world of painting and sculpture, I finally have the opportunity to write and discover the meaning of my work.
When I was just 5 years old, a schoolmate drew with impressive skill. He spent the entire day drawing pictures while I watched and admired him. He felt very encouraged and when classes ended he quickly put away his notebooks and colors and magically gave me his drawings. My father always picked me up at the same time and I would wait for him there, he was my idol; He ran to see him and show him those drawings. He told him that they were mine and he replied: “Someday you will be a great artist, my son, how proud I am of you.”
For a while it happened like this and everything was perfect. One day there was a meeting at home and my dad sent for me. I ran up and at a large table he boasted to his friends: “My son is a great artist. Show my friends, son, how good you paint.” Suddenly I felt a pain in my stomach. Since that man's character was very strong and he would never have understood a mistake,
I felt the terror. If he had realized, he would have killed me, he would be disappointed in me. So I ran like crazy to my bedroom to copy my friend's drawings. He tried again and again and started again. He messed up and went on and on: he wanted to show that I could do it too. At that moment I couldn't, but something was born in me that made me get excited day after day until I finally managed to draw. At the time, when I was 6 years old, I won my first painting contest that definitely determined what is currently the passion that moves me. Seeking to be accepted by my father was a challenge in my life. For a long time we fought, and time and again I got awards and recognition for my work trying to please him, without success, and after many years one day my phone rang and it was him. For a long time he asked me for forgiveness for all those times that he had to be by my side. I waited for that talk for more than 25 years and now I just asked him to forget it. In the end, it didn't matter what happened, I don't even remember his words well. Suddenly I stopped for a moment, when I heard that all his life he had kept a treasure that he preserved with enormous feeling. “When I die I want to give it to you,” he said: “It's that drawing you made when you were 6 years old and with which you won your first painting prize. I always knew
that you would be a great artist and I have always been proud of you.” Time goes by. Before facelling my father, three years ago, he became my best friend. Now I realize that the only recognition that mattered to me was his. The artist must and has the responsibility to create all the time to give back to nature for the gift that has been given to him. A work of art is a chair of wisdom where the most important and involuntary element of all stands out, something similar to magic, but called “gift.” Thank you, God, for having given the gift of transmitting emotions to other human beings; thanks to my father, who discovered that gift in me. Thank you for allowing me to touch his heart.
When I travel to a place that inspires me or see a sunset or a moment that I want to remember forever in life, I just close my eyes and see that image in my mind. And when I want to remember that moment; I close my eyes again and see what I didn't see at that moment. I call that unforgettable moment of my life “Absolute” and the Guardians are in charge of ensuring that those magical moments continue to happen in my life and in the lives of the people who contemplate them. We are what we imagine; we are sorry; We are what we give and also what we receive. We ourselves are the Guardians of our own destiny!!!