Guillermo Ceniceros: landscaper of chromatic games

The creative work of the plastic artist Guillermo Ceniceros (Durango, 1939), who was a student of David Alfaro Siqueiros, is based on three thematic columns: women, landscape and pictorial experimentation, from which he explores the poetic moment of color and the form, of movement and an infinite game with geometry and abstraction.

This is revealed by the exhibition Invocation to Balance that opens today at the Palacio de Minería, made up of 200 works by the Durango artist, known for collaborating in the Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros and for creating two murals in the Metro Collective Transportation System of Mexico City. and that today are iconic: The profile of time, captured in the Copilco station; and From the codex to the mural, at the Tacubaya station, of which some reproduced fragments are also integrated.

It is very difficult to see poetry in a painting, but the viewer has the say and can tell us if one seems poetic to him and that is when the painter can feel happy. The author cannot tell us what is poetic about a piece, the important thing here is that the viewer discovers the poetry in the painting,” said Ceniceros.

Furthermore, he highlighted that this set of works brings together 30 years of his artistic work, from 1992 to 2020, which deepens his link with realism and abstraction. “At the time, those two were the trends addressed by curious people, scholars, critics and painters, which led us to make good decisions.”

In his case, he said, “I chose to merge the two tendencies, that is, to use the painting that those of the La Ruptura generation did, with abstraction – which, in reality, is the analysis of geometry – and what I was looking for “It was combining the teaching of abstracts and applying it as a basis for realism.”

And to this idea were added the precepts of texture, light, color and dynamics. “I saw that some (creators) despised the possibility of realism and almost religiously dedicated themselves to abstraction. It seems to me that it was a success to combine abstraction and realism, because that way I worked more comfortably, with a language that adapted very well for the purposes of a slightly different realism,” he noted.

Ceniceros also recalled with emotion the collaboration he had with Siqueiros and defined it as an indescribable and unrepeatable learning process. “That succession of experiences with Maestro Siqueiros was very interesting, with the use of geometry, the manufacture of tools and with the gigantic compasses, which were used in work of that nature. It was a succession of teachings that each person then took on their side, modified, expanded, improved or was a starting point for those of us who worked (with Siqueiros) and, from there, chose our path,” he recalled.

During a tour of the exhibition, the muralist also highlighted the importance of the intuitive element to create. “Intuition is very important. Albert Einstein trusted in that sacred gift, which we all have, and which on some occasions it is advisable to make use of in easel paintings, supported by geometry.”

In addition, he referred to a caricature where he captured his version of the four great Mexican muralists. “The language of painting is related to other elements, such as caricature, and in this case I captured Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, José Clemente Orozco and Siqueiros, each one with a different language.

For example, Diego, who was told he was a frog, I drew him with some round shapes and I put a little frog over here; I gave Orozco (with a square face) a porcupine, because he was very angry and angry; I didn't add anything to Tamayo, but he is associated with Mexican sweets and fruits, because of the variety of colors that he achieved in his palette; while Siqueiros, it seemed to me that the language of his painting resembled the lines of his hairstyle,” he described.

Finally, Rodolfo Rivera, museographer and curator of the exhibition, defined Ceniceros as one of the 50 geniuses of current Mexican art and highlighted the depth of his pieces, the fundamental presence of women, which today is a universal theme, as well as his prolific activity.

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