Defending my freedom.
Jose Luis Serrano
José Luis Serrano represents the essence of the Mexican artist who transcends adversity.
From humble origins and a fragmented family, he found his escape and his destiny in art. During his student years at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas La Esmeralda, he lived in abandoned buildings and used coffee grounds to paint, given the impossibility of buying materials. His ingenuity led him to use an inflated tire as an air compressor for the airbrush, demonstrating that creativity flourishes even in the most adverse circumstances.
1968 marked a turning point in his life. While searching for his unknown father in Jalisco, fate saved him from the tragic massacre of Tlatelolco, where several of his classmates lost their lives. Upon his return, he found a transformed Mexico and a different school. His creative rebellion reached its peak when, instead of taking a final exam, he covered the classroom with his works, an act that the professors recognized as a work in itself, granting him the title of Nocturnal Painter.
Recognition came when Francisco Toledo discovered him and recommended him to the prestigious Juan Martín Gallery, the most important in Latin America. His success was immediate, selling all his work and beginning to exhibit in the most important spaces in Mexico and the United States. In his twenties, he was already exhibiting at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City and hanging out with the great masters of Mexican art: Arnaldo Coen, Miguel Castro Leñero, Irma Palacios, José Luis Cuevas, Vicente Rojo, Juan Soriano, Rufino Tamayo and Manuel Felguérez.
Always critical of elitism in art, Serrano developed and patented Silicography, which later evolved into Murography, techniques that would allow anyone to have access to a unique work of art. This commitment to the democratization of art earned him expulsion from the Casa Mexicana de la Plástica, but also the recognition of companies such as American Express.
Thirty-five years ago, Serrano decided to exile himself from the world of commercial art, building a studio to create behind closed doors, without the pressure of selling. Today, he presents us with his life's work: a collection that continues to grow thanks to his tireless creative capacity.
His story is a testament to the fact that true art is born from the need for expression and the conviction that beauty should be accessible to all. Maestro Serrano continues to paint and create, expanding the boundaries of his art and our understanding of what is possible.