Felipe Morales

(1959 San Pedro Martir Ocotlán, Oax. México)

Speaking only his mother tongue, Zapotec, and with no art experience except drawing, he entered the Rufino Tamayo Visual Arts Workshop in Oaxaca at the tender age of fourteen to become part of the first generation of artists. There he met Rufino Tamayo, one of Mexico’s finest artists, who selected one of Felipe de Jesus’ works to be published in a book.

Very early in his career he was picked for an exhibition in the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City. His works have been shown extensively in Mexico and abroad. Countries such as France, Canada, the United States, Japan, Spain, and Ecuador have known his work.

Felipe de Jesús tells us “I was born in a small town, in Ocotlán, and there the only theater, the only place we had where we could reflect, was the church. Since childhood I have always been very religious and I show that in my painting. I recently showed a number of paintings with religious and costumbrista themes that reflect my life experience. . . . My human figures tend to be elongated. I don’t plan it this way, but that is how they turn out. My hand, my heart are guiding me. It is a way of giving these stylized figures spiritual content.”