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Let's Go2Vallarta - Articles
José Moreno Aparicio: Encounters with Nature
Q: Who is José Moreno Aparicio and what does he believe in? A: José Moreno Aparicio is a Bolivian painter, born in the Amazon part of my country and residing in Mexico for approximately fifteen years. I believe in life and in the human being as a character who inhabits the planet with his good and bad things, always striving to be better. I think the human being has to create a different consciousness for our planet to stay alive, since we play the leading role for the good of the place we live in. The artist must be a productive and efficient person, serving his kin and society itself. A: Puerto Vallarta has always been one of the places within my plans to visit. I had the opportunity to do an exhibition here invited by a friend and here we are. I found what I suspected: a beautiful and agreeable place to live in, propitious for inspiring my creations and with lots of real estate development, it is therefore ideal for art marketing, as well as to propose a work such as the one I do in the visual arts.
A: I spend seasons at my Cuernavaca house, in Morelos, that is where my wife Carmen Feeney [Bolivian] lives, with fourteen-year-old Brisa, one of my daughters [Mexican]. I have two sons born in Bolivia who accompany me in my travels, Cristian and José, they studied in Mexico City. We are all lovers of this country and, although we have had the possibility of living in other places, I ratify the popular saying: “Como México no hay Dos” (there is no two like Mexico). This is a place that made our roots grow and Puerto Vallarta has a lot in common with the place where we lived in Bolivia; tropical, exuberant jungles and beautiful rivers. In addition to that, México is for many Latin-Americans the bigger brother, it is the country many artists aspire to reach a status in their field when they find this great culture that shows in their gastronomy, archaeological sites, natural wonders, music, art crafts, things with which we have learned to live. This is Mexico. Not only to Latin-Americans, but for the world as a whole, a place to live all your life. On the other hand, my mother and the rest of the family are in my native country, unfortunately one cannot travel with all of them. I have six children in total; three of them are still in Bolivia studying prep school. My wife studied in Mexico City and obtained a major in teaching English and she is also a professor of design by computer. Q: How do you paint? What feedback have you obtained from what you have observed in the field of visual arts in Puerto Vallarta?
Q: Taking your travels into consideration, give us some feedback about the galleries of Puerto Vallarta… A: Galleries have to be institutions committed to society, firstly they are houses of culture who have to walk hand in hand with the cultural development of a country. They are the ones who lead and show people through their exhibits, showing a content that leads the public to the roots of the town, its character. Galleries must be an example for the future generations of artists to follow. At some galleries the costs are very high; this naturally makes the works expensive and harder to sell, sending artists away to try to work on direct sales. I think there is a void within the constructive critique in the media, what is missing is that impartial critique that provides orientation so the spectator can understand the essence of the country. Q: Where was your curiosity to paint born?
A: I paint jungle themes, since I was a kid I was very interested in those spaces that we are unfortunately losing. Some call my work magical realism, some call it ecologic art, what is most significant is the encounter between the primitive man we all carry within, with the existing events in the jungle, from the very insects, to birds, to trees, to rivers and that whole and wonderful universe. Q: What in regards to technique can you share with us? Maestro José Moreno Aparicio, thank you very much for your attention and the opportunity you gave us to interview you. Be very welcome to Puerto Vallarta and we hope to very soon having another new and enriching conversation. Email to a friend. Adriano Herrera
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During the past Natura Nayarit celebration at painter Federico León de la Vega’s Estudio Café, we discovered that renowned Bolivian painter José Moreno Aparicio, having found here a new source of inspiration to continue praising nature with his work, is living here among us. José Moreno Aparicio has a long artistic history and has working studios in Paris, in Cuernavaca and now in our beautiful port. The moment I realized he was living here I immediately set out to ask him for an interview, which he agreed to, allowing me to share with you the outcome of a sincere and warm conversation: 
A: In the two months I have been living in the city I have not observed much of Vallarta’s paintings. As a person who has been part of many institutions related to cultural development, both in my country and in Mexico - I am an honorary member of the Cultural Institute of the State of Morelos, I have organized and owned galleries, I also write about art, I studied different painting techniques ― I realize Puerto Vallarta is a place with great need of art, I sadly see a great number of decorators looking at other countries when they do their job. We must strive to support our national production, to create sources of employment so the artist can continue to work and survive as such, for behind every painting there is a great survival struggle. Latin-American governments regularly give very little support to these artists, while other people are introducing art from Indonesia, the Philippines, from Africa, from India, from China, that aren’t even originals, so we have to fight against one more enemy, being invaded by a culture that isn’t ours. I think we should promote that decorators and architects be the allies of Mexican culture. I am convinced that we should export art and not import art, taking away the livelihood from many national artists. This is what I initially see and you can see it right away, I love Mexico and I perceive the problems that arise in cultural development.
A: I started out in a small town in the deepest part of the Amazon jungle, in Beni, a Bolivian province. It is a place where rubber exploitation developed simultaneously with Manaos, in Brazil. These places are not suited for plantations because you can plant an orchard and the jungle reclaims it in no time, the growth of the jungle is impressive and people generally make a living from gathering wood, rubber and Brazil nuts. As a kid I started carving wood, working on clay, until by one of those chances in life someone gave me a box with colors and I discovered their magic. It was really a magical experience! To mix a blue with a yellow and a green appears, to me this was most surprising! It still is wonderful to be able to transform things. On the other hand I had no art school to study in, I did banners for stores. They gave me the colors but no brushes so I had to produce them myself from the hairs of wild animals, that was an experience I would not change for anything in this world. I had my first travels within my country, later came invitations to visit others, all that came afterwards was a blessing of God. Along the way I had to do just about everything: I was a carpenter, an electrician, a mason, I studied performing arts, interior decoration, I learned to do stained glass windows but I kept to painting, an art I cannot finish learning.
Q: Which of your works is the most significant? © 1995 - 2006 Let's Go2Mexico ® - All Rights Reserved |