Leovigildo
Martínez Torres
Painter:
oils, watercolors
Oaxaca,
Mexico
Born: May
14, 1959
Art Education
--1977-81 "Cedart" (Arts Education Center) Oaxaca City, Mexcio
Graduated with teaching credential in "Synthetic Arts"
--1977-82 Workshop student of Rufino Tamayo, Oaxaca City, Mexico
Individual Exhibitions
--1999 Villa Amadeus, Monterrey, Mexico
--1998 "El Zócolo" gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
--1998 Villa Amadeus, Monterrey, Mexico
--1997 Villa Amadeus, Monterrey, Mexico
--1996 "El Zócolo" gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
--1996 "El Zócolo" gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
--1995 Private show, Los Angeles, CA
--1994 Private show, Tokyo, Japan
--1990 "Galería L.W." Mexico City; "Galería Chapultec," Mexico City
--1989 "Orsay" gallery in Mexico City; "Colegio de las Americas" Mexico City
--1988 "Cambio de Piel" gallery, Hotel Presidente, Oaxaca City
Collective Exhibitions
--1998 "Exhibits U.S.A." Traveling museum show to twenty U.S. cities through 1999.
--1997 "El Zócolo" gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
--1996 "Vorpal Gallery" San Francisco, CA.
--1996 "Galería Aura" Mexico City.
--1995 "Palacio de Bellas Artes," Mexico City
--1995 "The Art Institute of Chicago," Chicago, IL
--1995 "Galería Aura," Mexico City.
--1994 "Every Picture Tells a Story" Los Angeles, CA
--1994 "Galería Arte Oaxaca," Oaxaca City
--1994 "Bedford Gallery," Walnut Creek, CA
--1993 "Mexican Fine Arts Center," Chicago, IL. Traveling show
exhibited in Minneapolis, Cleveland and Phoenix in 1994
--1993 "Galería Arte Oaxaca," Oaxaca City
--1992 "Galería Arte Oaxaca," Oaxaca City
--1992 "Magic and Memory" Santa Fe East, Santa Fe, New Mexico
--1991 "Galería Arte Oaxaca," Oaxaca City
--1990 Hotel Nikko "Galerías Kashan" Mexico City;
"José Guadalupe Posada Culture Center," Mexico City;
"Galería Arte Oaxaca," Oaxaca City
Murals
--10 X 3 meter mural to be installed for permanent display beside that of Diego Rivera in the Children's Hospital of Mexico City, winter 2000.
--"Los Tatamandones," a mural for private collection, New York, NY, 1995
--"Fiesta de la Luna," a mural in five panels, on permanent display
at Cafe Pasqual's, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1994
Picture Book Illustratration, Distinctions and Honors
--The Twenty-five Mixtec Cats (1993), William Morrow and Co., Inc.
--New York Times Book Review, May, 1993
--Honored by the Society of Illustrators, best illustrated books of 1993
--Named to New York Public Library's "100 Children's Titles for Reading and Sharing"
--"An excellent addition to any collection." -ALA Booklist
--Published in Spanish by Tortuga Press, 1997
--Uncle Snake (1996) William Morrow & Co., Inc., New York, NY
--"Martínez's delightful...illustrations place readers solidly in the enchanted world of a tale that explains the origins of lightning." --Kirkus Reviews
--The Moon Was at a Fiesta (1997), Tortuga Press, Santa Rosa, CA
--Horn Book Review
--"Cultural charm resonates throughout." -Publishers Weekly
--Third English edition, second in Spanish, by Tortuga Press, 1999
--Numerous book and story illustrations for U.S. educational publishers Scott Foresman and Silver Burdett Ginn, 1995-1999
Leovigildo
Martínez Torres
Painter: Oils, Watercolors, Mixed Media
Leovigildo Victor Martínez Torres was born in 1959 in Oaxaca (wa-HAH-ka), Mexico, a state in southern Mexico known for its richly artistic traditions.Leovigildo has exhibited widely in Mexico, and collectors around the world attest to his universal appeal. The remarkable array of cultures and folklore in Oaxaca provide the major themes in Leovigildo's works. Fiestas, folk customs and even the textiles of the region find their way into Leovigildo's paintings, contributing to what the artist describes as "figurative magic."
His most recent solo shows have taken place at El Zócolo Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico and at Villa Amadeus, Monterrey, Mexico. In 2000, he will install a large scale mural beside that of Diego Rivera in the Children's Hospital of Mexico City. In 1995, he was selected to exhibit at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. In the previous two years, his works won acclaim in Los Angeles, Japan and Montreal. Thirteen of his works are on permanent display at the Museum of Latin American Art, Punto del Este, participated in workshops with the celebrated Mexican master, Rufino Tamayo, also from Oaxaca. Latin American Art magazine has praised Leovigildo as one of Oaxaca's great painters of his generation.
In the U.S., Leovigildo is also a sought after muralist and illustrator. His first mural, set in five panels, was commissioned by Café Pasqual's restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Martínez's first children's book, The Twenty-five Mixtec Cats, captures the masterful technique of his watercolors and was recognized as one of the top books of 1993 by the New York Public Library and by the Society of Illustrators. His whimsical second book, The Moon Was at a Fiesta, won the Society of Illustrators honor for 1994, as did his third book, Uncle Snake, in 1996. All three of his acclaimed books were written by author Matthew Gollub of Santa Rosa, California. He has also illustrated stories and books for U.S. educational publishers such as Scott Foresman and Silver Burdett Ginn.
The original artwork from Leovigildo's books has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and at over twenty museums in collective shows curated by ExhibitsUSA. Uruguay. His works have also shown in group exhibitions in Vorpal Gallery and the Mexican Museum of San Francisco. And two more of his works are on permanent display at the Mexican Fine Arts Museum of Chicago.