Isabel Avila

Isabel Avila, 'Noel Hernandez, Artist (Zapotec) Los Angeles, CA', Lightjet Archival C-Prints.,2012  

©Courtesy of the Artist and Vincent Price Art Museum

                    photography

Juan Carlos Pereda, curator of the Museum of International Contemporary Art "Rufino Tamayo"

The need to create spaces for artists to express themselves continues to be one of the most pressing and important work of institutions. The creation of a biennial for graphic artists is critical for the emergence of new talents that otherwise might take time to be recognized and have their work appreciated by the broader public. This is the case for young Oaxaca artist Noel Vargas Hernandez. He is a young and fresh artist with surprising talent who has created some pieces that reveal the importance of this type of event. His print, “Luó curuxui quee Cris Toó” (Christ on the Cross, Zapotec), is a unique work with great force of expression. It also has an almost archaic beauty and a sincere and thoughtful immediacy, filtering the best of contemporary art through his sensibility and expressing it with a drawing almost in the style of street graffiti but filled with knowledge that surely comes from seeing master works like those of Francisco Toledo. Noel Vargas has distinguished himself among all the other works with his originality, beauty, perfect technique and his contribution to the graphic world. Together his work in this first Biennial Shinzaburo Takeda Exhibition demonstrates the amplitude, excellence, strength and inventiveness that define the prestige and history of graphic arts in Mexico.