Ismael Vargas

Ismael Vargas was born in Guadalajara, México, 1947 at one of the poorest neighborhoods in town.

He tried bullfighting but discovered he wasn't brave enough to face an animal that size. He then tried opera singing and found out he didn’t have the voice either. One day, while walking next to his father, he would shake a little old box of matches, Ismael noticed there was a little painting printed at the back of the box, he thought it was beautiful and asked his father what was that, “it’s a painting” he said. “A painting?”, "Yes, a painter makes it". “Oh, then, I want to be a painter”. And so, at 13, he started to paint and sculpt.

Ismael would lay on the floor looking at the sealing to "imagine" new ideas to his paintings. His mother would come and say –What are you doing on the floor you lazy and useless boy! –Im imagining, Mom, I'm working. –Working? Don't make me laugh! Get up boy! Do something!" And she would give him the sweeper to help her clean the house. Months later, He got kicked out from home because he wasn’t bringing any money by painting.

He found the library of the American Consulate in Guadalajara where he noticed some books of abstract painters that inspired him and appealed to him the most. He would sta...

Autodidact.

When he turned 13 a friend told him that something called the School of Fine Arts existed. The principal let him sit in on classes but he noticed the teachers were also policemen, carpenters, firefighters, everything but painters. He told himself, “there’s something wrong with them” "I don't want to do this, I don't like this" And as soon as he started attending classes he decided to quit and continue on his own learning process.

INDIVIDUAL EXPOSITIONS

1968: OPIC, Mexico City.
1969: Museum of History of Jalisco, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
1970: Municipal Gallery, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
1971: Agustín Yañez House of Culture of Jalisco, Guadalajara, México.
1972: Edvard Munch Gallery, Mexico City.
1973: Agustín Yañez House of Culture of Jalisco, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
1974: Center of Modern Art, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México; Lepe Gallery, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, México.
1975: Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros, Mexico City; Casa del Lago, Mexico City.
1977: Arvil Gallery, Mexico City.
1979: Carrillo Gil Museum, Mexico City.
1980: Art Promotion, Monterrey, Nuevo León, México.
1981: The Rock of the Sun, Miró Gallery, Monterrey, Nuevo León.
1983: Altars and Cupolas, Arte Actual Mexicano Gallery, Monterrey, Nuevo León, México; Salinas Yacht Club, Salinas, Ecuador.
1984: Obsessive Image, Archaeological Museum of the Pacific Bank, Ecuador.
1985: Mimetic Galapagos, Salinas Yacht Club, Salinas, Ecuador.
1986: Museum of Modern Art, Panama City, Panama; Accumulations, Madeleine Hollander Gallery, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
1991: Memories, Jansen Perez Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, USA; Arte Actual Mexicano Gallery, Monterrey, Nuevo León.
1993: E...