Town: León, Guanajuato
Country: México 37530
Tel: +52 477 771 4938
E-mail: Antonio Ehrenzweig
Site: www.antonioehrenzweig.com
Vita
Antonio Ehrenzweig was born in Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico on August, 1962. He studied Architecture at the Iberoamerican University in Leon, Guanajuato (1984-1988). Ehrenzweig worked as a professional artist for 25 years. He had 23 solo and 40 group exhibitions since 1980, and completed 37 murals for individual and corporate clients. Presently, He lives in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico.Ehrenzweig is influenced by a desert place called “The Silence Zone”, near to his native city Torreón, at the Central North of Mexico. He was drawn to the natural colors of this area and the fossils prevalent there. Later, living in a coastal city, Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, he was fascinated by sea life and the movement of water. Those three themes—fossils, sea life and the movement of water became his artistic language.
Living at this industrial City of Leon, Guanajuato, had lead him to experiment with materials unusual in the arts. With some of his clients working in the leather manufacture, textiles, marble and concrete world he had the opportunity to experiment with industrial inks, acids and all kind of surfaces like concrete, medium and high density fibers, onyx and marble in two dimensional work.
In 1994 Ehrenzweig was invited to Haroo Watto, Ethiopia, to paint some murals at a Combonian Chapel. Two months later, after having conversations with the spiritual leaders and the people of the community, started to paint the murals. He recognized himself as a different person and artist as well, trying to make, from now on, only art his way of living, with no other work but his painting.
A visit to Toronto, CA, for three months with his wife on 2002 gave him a chance to make a solo exhibit and to give a workshop for the Creative Departament of The Toronto Star newespaper. This experience gave him confidence in his knowledge and in trying to make more exhibits out of his Country.
In 2003 he was invited as an artist to make a demo on concrete at the World of Concrete in Orlando, FL. This opened a new fortitude in his art work, found out that all experiments done befaure arround concrete could be taken to the arts.
As an underlying philosophy, Ehrenzweig states, “From beginning to end my productions are about observing Being and its origins…the water as the giver of life and the language of the fossil. All my works result from those observations, filtered and influenced by continuous discoveries watching the daily creation process.”
“When I began as a painter, I experimented with different techniques, materials, and surfaces. My experimentation includes: graphite, watercolor, oil, China inks, eukesolar inks (BASF Aktiengesellschaft, used by the leather manufacturers as pigment), industrial inks (Dystar, Imperon inks for textiles) and acid stains (Rotec International, used for the concrete industry). In the past, I used common surfaces for art such as, cotton paper, canvas, panel, etc., but now, with colored acids, I expanded to concrete and stone. Travertine, Onyx and Concrete are my surfaces.”
“The works in natural stone and concrete carry the language of painting. The art utilizing stone or concrete is not sculpture, but two-dimensional work. This way of painting has a prevailing monochromatic atmosphere with delicate relief. The stone amplifies the special fossil structure, and brings the past into contemporary view.”
Abstracto II 3
SOLO EXHIBITS (selection)
- “Pieles Ficticias” XXXIII Festival Internacional Cervantino, Leon, Guanajuato
- “Espacios Ficticios” Poliforum Leon, Guanajuato
- “Skins of Water” Atlantisia Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- “Ecología de la Piel y otros Diálogos” Galeria Eloisa Jiménez, Leon Guanajuato
- “Carne Fosil” Teatro Manuel Doblado, Leon, Guanajuato
- “La Gran Comunicación Universal” Vestíbulo Sala Hollín Yolitzlin, Ciudad de Mexico
- “Al Filo del Sueño” Museo de la Ciudad, Irapuato, Guanajuato
- “Arlequín Prostat” Tepotzotlán, Estado de Mexico
Abstracto 5
GROUP EXHIBITS (selection)
- “Paths to Mexico and Back” One Penn Plaza, New York, NY
- “Senderos Mexicancos I” Museo Regional Michoacano, Morelia, Michoacán
- “Diez Artistas” Galería Reina Sofía del Instituto Alzheimer, Leon, Guanajuato
- “Artistry Demo” Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL
- “Concelebraciones” Universidad Iberoamericana Leon, Guanajuato
- “Muestra Estatal de Plástica” Museo Regional de la Alhondiga, Guanajuato, Gto.
- “Artistas Contemporaneos de Leon” Irving Arts Center, Irving TX
- “II Bienal Estatal de pintura” Galeria Casa de las Monas, Leon, Guanajuato
- “Arte y Montaje” Universidad Iberoamericana Leon, Guanajuato
- “Fin de Siglo Fin de Milenio” III Festival de Arte Contemporaneo, Leon, Guanajuato
- “Las Artes” Land Mark Center, Omaha, NE
Collectors
- Universidad Iberoamericana
- Grupo Flecha Amarilla
- Museo de la Ciudad, Irapuato, Guanajuato
- Instituto de la Cultura de Leon, Guanajuato
- Artta Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- Craig Beal, Toronto University, Toronto, Canada
- Irving Arts Center, Irving Texas