Last November, I attended the exhibition opening for Spanish artist Miguel Zapata at Valley House Gallery in Dallas, TX and was amazed to see his artworks in person. His use of historical events combined with the rich textures, dramatic mixed media and bright colors is astonishing. Zapata is mainly inspired by artists like Antoni Tápies, Manuel Millares, Antonio Saura, and Luis Feito.

One day prior to this exhibition, he made an appearance at The Meadows Museum in SMU presented by Professor Emeritus of History Luis Martin which I also attended. As Luis Martin introduced Miguel Zapata and talked about his life and works, he started sketching with chalk on a black board. He explained how he teaches his students the proportion of the human body and how “the lines of perspective” works. In a matter of minutes, with simple language and his amazing skill to draw anything that comes to his mind, all of us seemed to have had a very special drawing lesson that we fully understood. You literally could hear the “awe” from the people in the audience. Not only is Miguel Zapata a great teacher but he seems to be a very humble man and very pleasant to talk to. During my conversation with Zapata he kindly invited us to his Dallas studio the next time he came to the US from Spain. We are really looking forward to visiting him this month at his studio which happens to be right down the street from our office.

We strongly recommend that you attend his next exhibition which starts on Feb 05, 2010 presented by Valley House Gallery and Sculpture Garden at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. For more information, go to: http://www.latinamericanart.com/en/art-events/beauty-and-power-valton-tyler-and-miguel-zapata.html

Until next time,

Laura Cunningham
Director