Sol Dorado - Art Gallery
Blvd.. Mijares No: 33, Col. Centro, C.P. 23400, San José del Cabo, B.C.S. Tel: (624)14-219-50
email: rosadu@prodigy.net.mx web_page: www.soldoradogaleria.com

Olegario Luis Sosa

Was born on March 10 of 1967 from Mitla, Oaxaca. Since kid he makes ceramic figures and with the time in high school at the art class he has the best facility for the painting, drawing human faces, he travel to United States to draw human faces with airbrush. Back in Oaxaca he worked with the artisans buying the carving wood pieces and he painted and sold this work. Then he found copal wood in his country and begins carving his own designs of fine pieces different to the other standard pieces call alebrijes.

Step forward in the art of alebrijes". An art finely carved, fantastically colored, radiating with beauty and imagination

Olegario Luis Sosa, originally from Mitla, Oaxaca, has become one of the grand masters of the art of "alebrijes". Thanks to his perfectionism he has developed a style that he has mastered known as "fine alebrijes". This represents a step forward in the development of this type of art, characterized for its color, fantasy and movement.
Although Olegario loved painting since he was ~ young boy, it was 'much Later in life that he got involved with this art form, and he did so through the alebrijes. He earned a bachelors degree in The Administration of Tourist Businesses, but without a doubt, his life took a different road and he quickly became dedicated to sales. It was in sales that he had his first contact with Alebrijes, since they were amongst the products that he was promoting.

Since this product had high demand his suppliers sometimes couldn't deliver. It was this that drove him to purchase a few blank pieces and 'he started filling them with point and imagination himself. .

Although master Olegario only has five years working with this art form, his work has blossomed thanks to his innovative ideas that represent enrichment in the development of Alebrijes.

With his perfectionism Olegario has focused on mastering the finest details of his alebrijes.

It is an art finely carved, fantastically colored, radiating in beauty.

Alebrijes – From Oaxaca

There’s the Known history about family Linares when Pedro Linares has esquizofrenia in his dreams he saw fantastic and incredible figures with many wonderful colors running after him screaming him “Alebrije” many times and there’s where the name of this kind of Art comes. When he was making these images in his dreams with the technique that him know “Paper mache”. He takes one piece to his friend Manuel Jimenez calling this piece as “Alebrije”.
His friend takes his work to carving – wood and the people from Oaxaca made this figures to the world. Since that time the Oaxaca Artists went to the mountains to get inspired and they saw figures on the trees and when they came back the homes they carved the wood to make the figures that they saw on imagination.

Woodcarving
Nearly 50 years ago, a handful of artists in two valley villages, Arrazola and San Martín Tilcajete, started carving and painting animals of copal wood. with a few families has turned into a booming business almost taking over the economy of these and other towns, and converting hundreds of families from agricultural workers to folk art producers.

The Oaxaca wood carvings are an international craze (the best-selling Mexican folk art in the U.S.), and the artists are recognized names in the world market. the future will probably belong to the crafts people who do the best quality work and have the cash to buy wood. There is no copal wood left in San Martin Tilcajete so they buy it from San Pedro Taviche and other towns, and their suppliers are now making figures of their own. It is not a craft that can be learned overnight, and as more people get into the act, quality fluctuates. In a great variety of subjects and sizes, the painted wood figures are carved from copal wood using the natural shape to inspire the sculptural form. If representing snakes or animals with tails, for instance, the tail takes the winding form of the tree branch. Copal wood is easy to carve while green. An uncomplicated piece such as an armadillo 10 inches long, takes about three days to carve. After drying in the sun for another three days it becomes light weight and hard. A sealer is applied to protect it from insects. Men do the carving, and the women paint, everybody working up to 15 hour days. The artistic quality of the work is improving all the time, with constant copying between carvers of popular themes. The competition is stimulating, and the some of the best work is on a level approaching fine art.
Learning about quality doesn’t take long. The better work is well thought out, with balance and sculptural logic, captivatingly alive even if a fantasy figure. The quality of the details is very important, also uniformity and smoothness of the surface meaning that the glue at the joints and marks of the knife have been well sanded. The paint should neatly delineate the features because the artist took time and care; and good work has no splinters, rough spots or nail-heads sticking out. A greater value is given to pieces made from a single piece of wood, especially when they have long, curving tails.