About the Artist
Biography - Lucas Lorenzo and his children Santiago, Jesus, Nicolas, Aureliano and Carlota live and work in the remote craft village of Xalitla, in the state of Guerrero. They come out of the same tradition as the well-known Guerrero painters on amate bark paper. Lucas started out painting scenes, mostly of the landscape and village life of Guerrero, on amate paper. But 58 years ago he tried painting on the more durable material of masonite board. He also began to paint larger naive figures of saints, devils, angels, religious figures and traditional Nahuatl masked dances. He passed the technique on to his children and now a third generation, who have continued the practice, exhibiting and selling as a family. They have added new subjects out of history and popular culture, such as masked luchador wrestlers, Zapatista guerillas, calaveras for dia de los muertos, images from the loteria game and, of course, Frida Kahlo. For many years the Lorenzo family have operated a booth to sell their works in Mexico City. Recently Lucas' grandson Fernando has exhibited their work at art fairs in Austin and San Antonio, Texas, as well as the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2016 the Mexican Secretaria de Cultura published a full-color book illustrated with their paintings, Familia Lorenzo.
I was sad to learn that "Don Lucas" Lorenzo passed away on Monday, November 23rd, 2020, at the age of 80.
