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Felix Zapata was born in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. In addition to graduating from Architecture at the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, Zapata also studied textile design at the Instituto de Artes en Tlaquepaque. The artist furthered his education studying engraving, xilografia, and intaglio at Escuela de Artes Plasticas de La Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon. He has been the director of Casa de la Cultura de San Pedro, and is currently teaching at Facultad de Artes Visuales de Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, at Centro Cultural Alfa, at Casa de la Cultura San Pedro and at Universidad de Monterrey. Early in Felix's career, he developed a disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa. The disease has caused the artist to gradually lose his sight over the years, and Felix is now almost completely blind. However, the artist's need to create drives him to pursue his work in his studio in Monterrey, Mexico. His academic background and memory of texture and colors are what he uses to continue developing amazing works of art whether they are sculptures, paintings, or engravings. |
| Felix's collection at the gallery is comprised of his grabados or engravings, in English. Each of the images were created with the Mexican holiday "el dia de los muertos" as the theme. The holiday is when families gather together to celebrate the lives of loved ones who have passed on. In this series, Felix used small tin "milagros." A milagro in English is a miracle. To Catholic Mexicans, milagros are also small charms which are collected from Churches to give thanks after being healed from an illness. Felix places the milagros and other meaningful items on a plaque using the textures as his guide. He then mixes his colors and tints the plaque. Both the plaque and a sheet of cotton paper are pushed through a mechanical press. The plaque must be retinted each time giving each piece a unique coloration. The plaques are destroyed after ten works have been pulled. Each of these images is a miracle in itself: hand made by Felix using his memory, his passion, his education and his unyielding drive to keep creating no matter what hardships befall him. |
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