Day of the Dead in Seattle 2023

We gather to remember those who have passed away. As Day of the Dead approaches Fulgencio and his team of fellow artists and community volunteers are busy creating sand paintings for a dozen local museums, schools and cultural institutions in the Seattle area. The annual celebration has become so popular in Seattle since Fulgencio's first sand painting in 1991, created on the upper floor of El Centro de la Raza's original building and stretching from end to end.  Today he created this design, in honor of all musicians and music lovers who have passed away for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra's 1st Annual Día de los Muertos Celebration. 

Sonata de Espiritus, sand, water and powdered tempera, 8 feet x 12 feet, 2023 

Inaugura Estrellas del Norte al Sur en Seattle

 

Durante la pandemia Fulgencio trabajó duro, preparando una nueva serie para inaugurar en Seattle, Washington con la Galería ArtXchange, del 5 de agosto al 25 de septiembre, 2021. En las 25 obras, utilizando sus características líneas y símbolos sintetizados, intenta trazar los elementos de una cultura y revelar la esencia de lo que los migrantes llevan consigo al embarcarse en sus viajes. “Estas pinturas, producidas durante los últimos catorce meses, son meditaciones en el tema de transformación ”, dice Lazo. "Mi mundo, como el de toda la humanidad, ha sido trastornado por la pandemia mundial, las crisis humanitarias agravadas por el cambio climático y los movimientos por la justicia racial y social. Esta trifecta requiere que nos transformemos a nosotros mismos y a nuestras instituciones. Como artista debo mostrar visualmente cómo es la transformación ”. 

Travesías Migratorias @ Museo Rufino Tamayo en Oaxaca

No pierden la oportunidad de ver su primera exposición de puras esculturas en madera en el Museo Rufino Tamayo en la ciudad de Oaxaca. Son 19 obras magníficas.  

Essay on current exhibit

Seattle writer and art historian, Susan Platt, wrote a text for Fulgencio's exhibit In Celebration of Immigrant Workers, on exhibit at Studio Lazo, 1614 S. Jackson, Seattle, 98144, through May 30th, 2018. Here's her essay in English.

Fulgencio Lazo: In Celebration of Immigrant Workers

Fulgencio Lazo’s new series of sculptures honors the poignant emotions of the process of immigration as well as the joys and challenges of hard working families.

Lazo’s artwork bring together abstraction with traditions based in his native Oaxaca, his Zapotec heritage, and his own personal journey between the US and Mexico. He was trained in both countries, so we see in his work an unusual synthesis of Mexican and Modernist characteristics.The colors light up the room, as we walk among these seven free standing works.  All the works primarily focus on the positive, a much needed perspective today when immigrants are so misrepresented and stereotyped. But Lazo also includes subtle references to the challenges that immigrants face.

In the benchmark work of this series, called Despedida (Farewell), we see two figures, one is going, the other is staying. At the very center of the piece we see their faces with mouths touching in the intensity of a last goodbye. They stand in the middle of Lazo’s characteristic half wheel/circle that suggests the cycle of change, of life, of inevitable instability. Their reaching arms suggest their sadness as well.  The artist burned the plywood with a torch over an open fire and added red suggesting the burning hot sands of crossing the desert. Along one axis of the half circle is a wire holding flattened bottle tops that refer to the water needed to survive the crossing, as well as the cruel act of destroying the bottles of water put out for the migrants. The zig zag pattern that frames the half circle evokes a tapestry-like reference.

Two sculptures honor weavers, a traditional craft in Oaxaca that continues to the present. As the artist explained to me, families work hard and then celebrate with music and dancing. He suggests both the work and its conclusion. We clearly see the loom in Mediodía (Midday) as well as a worker who seems to be both weaving and dancing. In Entre Familia (Between family), the workers seem to dance on the edge of the circle (almost completed here, perhaps suggesting the cycle of work), as they celebrate the end of work.

Lazo frequently puts his figures on wheels to suggest movement as in the Flautero (Flute player) and the Ambulantes libres (Free street vendors). It suggests the freedom and mobility of musicians and vendors, as they walk the streets in both the US and Mexico.

Nothing embodies migration more specifically than flying birds, as seen here in the beautiful Aves de norte a sur (Birds from north to south). But the contrast of the freedom of birds to migrate to that of people is seen in Esperanza interrumpida (Hope interrupted) in which the figure feels grounded and unable to take to the sky. But answering that is Construyendo esperanza (Building hope), a pair of musicians who, in spite of the challenges (suggested by their vivid red color) resolutely continue to create music.

This stunning group of sculptures collectively celebrates immigrants’ lives, work, culture and sense of family. As we stand among them, we experience the artist’s commitment to celebrate the perseverance of immigrants as well as the contributions they make to our lives.  

Susan Noyes Platt             

www.artandpoliticsnow.com

May 1, 2018

Obra Reciente

"Diez de mayo", un acrílico sobre tela de su producción reciente. Fulgencio está trabajando para publicar un nuevo libro, por salir a fines de 2018. 

New Show to Open May 1st, 2018

Fulgencio has been hard at working producing six new sculptures for his upcoming show, Fulgencio Lazo-In Celebration of Immigrant Workers. The exhibit, organized in collaboration with the Washington State Labor Council, will run May 1st-30th at Studio Lazo, 1614 S. Jackson Street, Seattle, 98144. Gallery hours will be Friday - Sunday, 4-7PM and by appointment. He'll host a special May Day celebration to coincide with the Seattle May Day March and Rally on May 1st from 12 to 4PM and an artist talk on May 23rd at 7PM. 

The exhibit will feature sculptures in wood that focus on the lives of immigrant workers- their journeys, families, innate beauty and struggles. The three to four feet tall sculptures are intricately cut and carved, then painted upon. Parts of them are then burned, creating images with multi-layers of tone and color. By producing an exhibit and event specifically celebrating immigrant workers Fulgencio hopes to challenge negative perceptions, stereotypes and rhetoric .  As an immigrant from Oaxaca, Mexico, International Workers’ Day is of special significance to Fulgencio and he hopes to bring together community members of diverse backgrounds to reflect on the beauty, struggles, and contributions of immigrant workers.  

Studio Lazo to host Ode to Hope

We are excited to host Ode to Hope- New guitar music, poetry and art of the Americas, featuring work by classical guitarist and composer, Hilary Field and poet, Claudia Castro Luna, alongside Fulgencio's art.

Date: Sunday, November 19, 2017

Time: 2:00 pm 

Venue: Studio Lazo 

Address: 1614 South Jackson Street, Seattle, Washington, 98144 

The artists will be presenting new compositions and poems that integrate the musical language of poetry with the expressive phrasing of the classical guitar, surrounded by the vivid and joyful paintings of Oaxaca native, Fulgencio Lazo. Inspired by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s poem “Oda a la Esperanza”, this will be an evening of art of the Americas, enveloped by the theme of hope. The concert will also feature poems set to music from Castro Luna’s new book, “Killing Marías,” written in memory of the women and girls killed in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and for all women and girls who are victims of domestic violence.
This project is supported by generous grants from the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, 4Culture, and by Casa Latina.
Free admission and light refreshments following the performance.