Local Artist Exhibit at Laredo Public Library; Award-winning artist to showcase Laredo
Written by admin, Sep 3, 2010, 0 Comments
Courtesy Xochitl Mora,
Laredo, Texas—Thurs., Sept. 2, 2010—San Agustin Church. A local fountain. Casa Blanca Ballroom. These are just a few of the art pieces by local award-winning artist Juan Antonio Barajas that are now on exhibit at the Laredo Public Library. His current watercolor and oil paintings are part of the “Viva Mexico!” art show, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Independence of Mexico, and will run now until the end of September.
The exhibit depicts the traditions and landscape of Laredo, as well as the faces of Mexico. His mission is to record the traditions and landscape of Laredo so as not to be lost to Laredo’s current and future generations.
His simple, yet powerful portrayal of landscapes, architecture is often painted in the photo realist style, capturing the subjects in such a way that make them almost seem to jump of the page. However, it is his portraits that seem to shine with an inner light that will have adults and children, lingering at the various paintings throughout the Library.
“I see young people lacking a focus or appreciation for the beauty of the landscape around them,” says Barajas. “They are at the mall, just hanging out, instead of trying to learn and understand what is around them. I hope this exhibit will help them to learn to appreciate the beauty here in Laredo,” he concludes.
This is the second exhibit by Barajas at the Laredo Public Library. He has also hosted children’s art workshops at the Library. Barajas loves to display his work at the Library, because so many people can come to see his artwork and learn to appreciate art.
Barajas, originally from Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico, studied architecture, advertising drawing, photography, art and technique from various institutes in Mexico and Spain. Barajas won the National Prize of Plastic Arts for his piece “J. Jesús Rodriguez de le Vega,” for one of his first shows, the Collective Annual of Painters of Queretaro in 1990. Over the years, he has had many art exhibits and awards throughout Mexico and Laredo, as well as giving public art lessons to students of all levels.
