Con esta exposición, Fulgencio Lazo (Oaxaca, 1966) teje una red en la que los recuerdos de su infancia son confrontados por nuevas experiencias y experimentaciones artísticas, como aquellos momentos donde el hilo se volvió una forma de vida al interior de su familia.
Nacido en la comunidad de El Paraíso, Oaxaca, de madre zapoteca de la sierra en Yalalag y padre mixteco de la zona de Putla, el mayor de seis hermanos, a temprana edad migró a la ciudad de Oaxaca asentándose en lo que hoy es la colonia Yalalag en la Reforma. Su familia se dedicaba a los textiles y su abuela siempre tenía un telar de cintura en proceso. Hilos y carretes eternamente presentes. Un hilo que lo ha conducido por sus memorias: él tenía que poner botones en las camisas mientras sus amigos jugaban fuera de casa.
Para Lazo, este proyecto de exposición tiene que ver con la idea primigenia del hilo, haciendo un símil con el uso de la línea —sucesión de puntos/puntadas— dentro de la composición. Pero también con aquello que nos amarra a nuestras costumbres, aquel hilo invisible que vamos dejando a nuestro paso y que de una u otra forma intuimos su devenir.
Los asiáticos consideran que la vida está destinada por un hilo rojo desde nuestro nacimiento hasta el día de nuestra muerte. En la mitología griega, Ariadna le entrega un ovillo de hilo a Teseo para que pueda salir del laberinto tras matar al Minotauro. Se trata de ese hilo que nos conecta con lo que somos y con lo que seremos.
Fulgencio Lazo ha hilvanado una exposición que incluye experimentaciones técnicas que lo han obligado a salir de su zona de confort, a arriesgarse, por el amor que le tiene al arte y por su necesidad de crear. Se ha dejado guiar por manos maestras para hacer piezas en barro, esculturas en metal y con telares de pedal de Teotitlán del Valle, aprendiendo las posibilidades que le brindan estos nuevos materiales.
Recordando, sin perder el hilo, regresa a su infancia, a aquellos momentos en donde la música, la comida y las tradiciones estaban vivas gracias a su familia y su comunidad. Ese hilo que nos une a todos lo seres, como si del cordón umbilical de nuestra madre se tratará, y que en algún momento ha sido cortado, pero no lo olvidamos. Se trata de nuestras raíces.
Lazo hila sus recuerdos con las obras y con las distintas técnicas. Pequeñas líneas quebradas a manera de patrones de confección, círculos divididos que atisban botones, carretes de hilo, agujas, personajes, juguetes. Recordar para trascender. Volver a reconocer aquellos caminos transitados. Es por ello que a veces tenemos que deshilvanar el trabajo, el camino, para rememorar y regresar por donde habíamos caminado, reafirmando nuestras puntadas, zurcidos, experiencias, reconociéndonos en el trayecto.
Lo que vemos en estas obras es el resultado de un artista que afianzó sus raíces, recordando, reconociendo, identificando, pero sobre todo experimentando, hilando fino y creando.
Guillermo Fricke Labastida
With this exhibition Fulgencio Lazo (Oaxaca, 1966) weaves a web in which his childhood memories become entangled with his recent experiences and artistic experiments, just like when he was a young child and threads became a way of life for his family.
Born in the community of El Paraíso, Oaxaca, to a Zapotec mother from the mountain village of Yalalag and a Mixtec father from the region of Putla, Lazo is the oldest of six children. At a young age his family migrated to the city of Oaxaca, settling in what is now known as Colonia Yalalag, neighboring Colonia Reforma. His family earned a living as textile workers, and his grandmother was constantly making woven cloth on a backstrap loom. Threads and spools were ever present. A recurring thread within his memories: he was forced to sew buttons on the shirts they made while his friends played outside the gate of his house.
For Lazo, this exhibit is all about that ever-present thread, represented by his use of lines and successive dots and dashes or stitches within the composition. The lines act as symbols for the threads that tie us to our customs, those invisible threads we leave in our wake and which, one way or another, help us to sense our future.
In many Asian cultures, one’s destiny from birth until the day of death is expressed by a red thread. In Greek mythology, Ariadne gives Theseus a ball of thread to help him find his way out of the labyrinth after slaying the Minotaur. The theme is this thread that connects us to all that we are and that we will ever be.
Fulgencio Lazo has chosen to use basting stitches to create an exhibition of technical experimentation, that has forced him to get out of his comfort zone, to take risks for his love of art and his necessity to create. For this exhibit he has been guided by the master hands of artisans to make clay pieces, steel sculptures and weavings from pedal looms in Teotitlán del Valle, all the while learning about the possibilities these new materials offer.
He conjures up memories, never losing the thread, returning over and over again to his childhood. He recalls those moments when music, food, and traditions came alive thanks to his family and community. This thread unites us to all beings, as if it were our mother’s umbilical cord which at some point had been cut, but not forgotten. It’s about our roots.
Lazo spins his memories with his artwork and with different techniques. Dotted lines like those used in paper sewing patterns; divided circles that give a hint of buttons; spools of thread; needles; human faces; toys. To remember in order to transcend. Recall those paths traveled so as not to lose the thread. Because sometimes we must unstitch our work or our paths–to remember and retrace our steps, thus reaffirming our stitches, the spots we have darned, our experiences, and ultimately recognizing ourselves along the way.
What we see in these works is the result of an artist who secures his roots by remembering, recognizing, identifying, and above all experimenting, spinning meticulously, and creating.
Guillermo Fricke Labastida
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