Israel Zzepda & Luis Valui Exhibition at Galleria Dante Claire Guarniere - Galleria Dante
November 29, 2013

As part of the Southside Shuffle on Friday, November 29, Galleria Dante will present the opening cocktail party exhibition for artists Israel Zzepda and Luis Castellanos Valui. Join us from 6:00 until 10:00 pm.

Israel Zzepda, born in 1971, just celebrated his 26th Anniversary as a professional artist. He has been painting and drawing for more than 35 years, but also sculpts in paper mache, bronze & cast aluminum.

The general public is constantly surprised at the huge body of work he has produced for a man so young. He became an apprentice at the age of 15. A full time art teacher at the age of 19, Zzepda has influenced many young artists, including various members of his own family who are aspiring artists.

He taught art and fashion illustration for more than 13 years. He has also painted more than 1000 meters of murals in both public and private places in Cancun, Uruapan, Michoacán and Jalisco. And in addition to this, he completed 6 murals in Sardinia, Italy in 2011.

After visiting museums in Florence, Rome and Spain, he vowed never to exhibit his work unframed again. It is worth a visit to his show, just to view the frames created for each painting, a work of art in themselves.

There is a sensitivity, innocence and a refined discipline about this young man. His work penetrates into the religious, spiritual, sexual and existential realms, reflecting over the truth and questioning established thinking. He is not afraid to express himself.

"The artist is a reflection of daily life. I want to be a chronicle of my time," says Zzepda who seeks to be honest and reflect his own unique style in all of his work. Texture also plays an important role in the idealized handling of the human figure. He can paint photo-realistic portraits, but instead sacrifices a little of the perfection of the human figure, in hopes of revealing the interior of himself. "We are all good and bad, we construct and we destroy, we are of light and somewhat dark, journeying daily through the streets of the planet."

His imaginative capacity is perhaps the most dominant visual feature of his work. The viewer will possibly be intrigued and will wish to apprehend the thematic contents of his paintings. He reveals himself as a witness of human suffering. The work of Zzepda appears to be recreating ambiguous and mysterious worlds. Therefore at times his paintings portray strange, desolate environments. Zzepda also displays serene and sometimes humorous eroticism. Also the artist embraces notoriously religious topics, as well as ontological and metaphysical subjects.

See more works of art by Israel Zzepda here.   

Luis Castellanos Valui, born in Guadalajara in 1955, is a painter who infuses his Latin American roots with the traditions of tropical jazz and cafe culture.

Collected by the J. Paul Getty Institute and Capitol Records, Valui creates rhythmic images, bringing his subjects to life. His works are also in the collection of Atlas and Mambo Restaurants, Go West Productions, Televisa, Ripstein Collection, Univision. At his openings in Los Angeles, many Hollywood jet setters are among the collectors.

He studied for two years at the Fine Arts University in Guadalajara. At the age of 20 he moved to Mexico City where he studied at the "Esmeralda" school. He restored Colonial and Pre-Hispanic art for 4 years at the request of the Mexican government.

He then established himself in the Bohemian community of Tepoztlan, Morelos, a small village south of Mexico City. There he began his formal career as a painter. In 1986, he had his first individual exhibition at the prestigious OMR Gallery in Mexico City.

"For me, in the beginning it was van Gogh," Valui says. "But, over the years, I learned about the German Expressionists, pre-Hispanic art, and became influenced by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall."

Not just people, but animals are also a favorite subject - crabs, parrots, lions, tigers being some of his most favorites to paint. Musicians and dancers recur in Mr. Valui's paintings, and their heat and energy are palpable. You could get a charley horse in your calf just looking at his dancers' legs. "We say in Mexico, when you are a musician who is very ..." he rolled his hand in the air, "... very talented, very into it, we say, 'tiene duende,' he has it in his blood, in his soul."

Luis paints in oil, as well as water color. When you attend his shows, you will hear the friendly bantering of his collectors: "Well I own 7 of his paintings". Another will say "But I own 11." Very few people stop at purchasing only one painting by Luis.

The paintings make you smile and leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Luis is a painter of our senses, what you feel looking at his paintings: to dance, to sing, to dream, to love. And when it comes to dance, there is probably not a style that Luis has not painted: mambo, tango, salsa, cha-cha-cha, waltz.

There are scenes on the beach, by the campfire, in  plazas, street and market scenes. His paintings are fresh, luminous and definitely tropical. They are full of humor and saturated with color and light. Thank you Luis for bringing us such joy.

See more works of art by Luis Castellanos Valui here.

Don't forget the South Side Shuffle happens every other Friday thru April 4th!

Galleria Dante is located at Basilio Badillo 269 in Old Town Vallarta.