MEET:
José López / Mctzm
'Blue dog', 2021
Color pencils on papaer
200x200cm
Tell us about yourself.
I’m from Monterrey Mexico, I live in Vienna, Austria. I’m 36 years old. I studied Visual arts in Monterrey and then I did a master in public art in Germany. I’m very into drawing and painting. I love mythology, history and I research prehispanic Mexico
Where did your passion for art begin?
When I was in highschool. Art was like a way to deal with social pressure. And I already had art materials at home because my mother is also an artist.
How would you describe your work to someone?
I do large handmade drawings using colored pencils on paper mosaics formed by square patterns and modules that sometimes look like pixels or digital images.
'They have awakened the jaguar warrior', 2020
Color pencils on paper
200x200cm
What are you currently working on?
Im drawing Coatlicue, she is the goddess of fertility in the Aztec mythology it’s taking me a very long time already 3 months. I hope to finish by the end of the year.
When you start a new work or project, do you plan what you’re going to create or do you improvise?
The idea comes in a very intuitive way. Mostly when I’m at bed or taking a shower but then I plan a lot and visualize how I’m going to execute the work. I also improvise while doing, I love the little unexpected mistakes that’s why I do handmade because you can see the chaotic process on the result.
Can you highlight some of your influences and discuss how your influences have made an impact on you and your practice?
Old Video games, low resolution internet images, cartoons, comics, basically what I was exposed as a kid and teenager from popular culture and mass media. I mix those aesthetic references with chaos magic, Mexican mythology and folklore. I find very interesting the Mexican past before the colonization. For me is like science fiction or fantasy.
'Talking palm', 2021
Color pencils on papaer
120x190cm
What are your plans for the remainder of this year?
I will be drawing a lot for a solo exhibition I will have on May next year here in Viena at the Latin American Institute. Hopefully I will finish the drawing I’m currently doing, The Coatlicue. She is the original Mexican Goddess.