Mexican Vibrations / Vibraciones Méxicanas Revisited

The first exhibition of Mexican Vibrations was in 1992; these earlier works consists of 30 works-on-paper, image size is 11” X 18” inches.

Original Works 2003

Several are in private collections. Mexican Vibrations presents Mexican themes in a totally new visual form. The new medium Sal-Zar™ gives the colorist the opportunity to add clairvoyant depth to his/her work. The pastels take on rich deep shades, in other areas they retain a mellow tone, reminiscent of old paints on Mexican exterior walls. Graphite and charcoals provide strong outlines for the active figures and bold shapes of each piece. The search for meaning is evident here within the rolling hills, mysterious skies, or in the eyes peering out at you. Salazar uses the juxtaposition of rich Mexican shades where you wouldn’t normally see them, such as within a face, or on one side of a building, or within a backdrop. Some of these colors are mauve, cadmium-yellow, thalo-green, prussian blue, and red-iron oxide. The colorants emit a tactile quality, making you want to touch the piece. And touch you may! The surface can resist most abuses. No glass is needed for framing.

The 2003 series Mexican Vibrations takes off in an entirely different way. In these paintings on wood 24X28 inches Salazar moves deep into his artistic core, to create images that seem to vibrate as you stare at the intense colors with heavy impasto application of chapapote (tar) pulsating in the Sal-Zar™ medium.

The result is that the images, while heralding the Mexican landscape, nevertheless do not signal it out. Instead the Mexican Vibrations are a totally new way to examine the land. It is as Carols Fuentes said in his Introduction to the photography journal Mexico: A Higher Vision: “Everything in Mexico vibrates simultaneously, perhaps because the clouds constantly soften the harshness of the imperious Mexican elements, so none truly triumphs over the other.”