Central American Artists / Artistas
Artwork by Chubasco from laberinto projects.
José Antonio Velásquez
José Antonio Velásquez (1906 – 1983) was a Honduran artist. His work depicts typical Honduran street scenes, distinctly stylized and frequently portrayed from a high vantage point and rendered in rich colors endemic to Central American culture. He is often lauded as among the first American Primitive Painters. Antonio Velásquez contributed to the Regionalist Movement.
José Antonio Velásquez (1906 – 1983) fue un artista hondureño. Su trabajo representa escenas callejeras típicas de Honduras, claramente estilizadas y frecuentemente retratadas desde un punto de vista elevado y representadas en ricos colores endémicos de la cultura centroamericana. A menudo se le elogia como uno de los primeros pintores primitivos de America. Antonio Velásquez contribuyó al Movimiento Regionalista.
Fernando Llort
Fernando Llort Choussy (1949 – 2018) was a Salvadoran artist, often dubbed "El Salvador's National Artist.” Indigenous cultures heavily influence Fernando's art. He could mix modern ideas with a naive drawing style in multiple mediums.
Fernando Llort Choussy (1949 – 2018) fue un artista salvadoreño, a menudo apodado "Artista Nacional de El Salvador". Las culturas indígenas influyen mucho en el arte de Fernando. Podía mezclar ideas modernas con un estilo de dibujo ingenuo en múltiples medios.
Paula Nicho Cumez
Paula Nicho Cumez (b.1955) is named by some as Guatemala’s most important Maya woman living artist. Cumez is inspired by Mayan tradition and culture and focuses on expressing the context of native women’s experience in her artwork; additionally, Cumez was inspired by the Popol Vuh. Check out our lesson Leaving Home: Socratic Dialogue with Mayan Art.
Paula Nicho Cumez (n. 1955) es nombrada por algunos como la artista viva maya más importante de Guatemala. Cumez se inspira en la tradición y cultura maya y se enfoca en expresar el contexto de la experiencia de las mujeres nativas en su obra de arte; además, Cumez se inspiró en el Popol Vuh. Consulta nuestra lección Saliendo de casa: diálogo socrático con el arte maya.
Pen Cayetano
Pen Cayetano (b. 1954) is one of Belize's most distinguished artists and musicians. He is one of the leading cultural revivalists and ambassadors for the Garinagu. His favorite medium is of oil on canvas with genres of modern art and contemporary realism.
Pen Cayetano (n. 1954) es uno de los artistas y músicos más distinguidos de Belice. Es uno de los principales revitalizadores culturales y embajadores de los Garinagu. Su medio favorito es el óleo sobre lienzo con géneros del arte moderno y el realismo contemporáneo.
Armando Morales
Armando Morales (1927 – 2011) was a Nicaraguan figurative painter considered one of the most important artists in his country’s history. Primarily depicting fruit still lifes, tropical landscapes, and the female nude, his paintings melded expressive handling with neutral tones and voluminous forms.
Armando Morales (1927 – 2011) fue un pintor figurativo nicaragüense considerado uno de los artistas más importantes de la historia de su país. Sus pinturas, que representan principalmente bodegones de frutas, paisajes tropicales y desnudos femeninos, fusionaron un manejo expresivo con tonos neutros y formas voluminosas.
Guillermo Trujillo
Guillermo Trujillo (1927 – 2018) was a contemporary Panamanian artist best known for his paintings which meld Indigenous iconography, political themes, and Western European techniques. His work synthesized the styles of the many cultures of his country’s heritage in a contemporary form.
Guillermo Trujillo (1927 – 2018) fue un artista panameño contemporáneo mejor conocido por sus pinturas que combinan iconografía indígena, temas políticos y técnicas de Europa occidental. Su trabajo sintetizó los estilos de las muchas culturas del patrimonio de su país en una forma contemporánea.
Francisco Amighetti
Francisco Amighetti (1907 – 1998) is considered one of the pillars of Costa Rican culture. He was also one of the most prolific and original Latin American artists. He was a specialist in the art of color xylograph. Amighetti’s art spans a variety of themes, including sexuality, death, and social commentary.
Francisco Amighetti (1907 – 1998) es considerado uno de los pilares de la cultura costarricense. También fue uno de los artistas latinoamericanos más prolíficos y originales. Era un especialista en el arte de la xilografía en color. El arte de Amighetti abarca una variedad de temas, incluida la sexualidad, la muerte y los comentarios sociales.
June Beer
June Beer (1935 – 1986 ) was a pioneering, self-taught Black feminist painter, poet, and revolutionary cultural worker from Bluefields, Nicaragua. Beer would meditate on Black and Caribbean Nicaraguan women’s subjectivities in the vibrant, tender portraits that comprise the bulk of her painterly oeuvre.
June Beer (1935 – 1986) fue una pintora, poeta y trabajadora cultural revolucionaria feminista negra, pionera y autodidacta, de Bluefields, Nicaragua. Beer meditaría sobre las subjetividades de las mujeres nicaragüenses negras y caribeñas en los vibrantes y tiernos retratos que componen la mayor parte de su obra pictórica.
Kiara Aileen Machado
Kiara Aileen Machado is a contemporary artist born in Lynwood, California, who depicts and explores the construction of identity, familial lineage, intergenerational trauma, and culture in her work. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in painting and drawing from California State University Long Beach in 2018.
Machado has worked on murals in border towns calling attention to the violence these borders bring to communities, migration, and the environment. The murals have been between San Diego and Tijuana, Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. She also co-facilitated a community-based mural in Siguatepeque, Honduras, and recently completed a mural in El Monte through the Summer of Solidarity residency with LAvsHate and MuralColors.
Her artwork has been seen in museums and galleries across the United States and has begun to show internationally, including in Florence, Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, San Salvador, and Antigua. Her work has been acquired by the Hood Museum and Ulrich Museum.
Víctor Interiano
Víctor Interiano (he/him) is a Los Angeles-based Salvadoran artist and creator of Dichos de un bicho (Instagram), a social media platform and blog that examines life as Salvadoran diaspora in the United States through an intersectional analysis on systems of power and popular culture.
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