The commonality of death: Bringing new life to Día de los Muertos By Kathaleen Roberts / Journal Staff Writer Sunday, November 1st, 2020 at 12:02am ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Alex Chavez asks his viewers to cradle life and death in the same hand with his bravado brushwork. Born and raised in East Los Angeles, the Taos artist came from Mexican farm workers on his father’s side and a mother born in Valdez near the Taos Ski Valley. Chavez moved to Taos in 1996. “I always felt more balanced and more centered here,” he said. Chavez grew up with family Day of the Dead altars and cemetery visits where his parents would leave gifts for long-lost loved ones. “I guess it was a little odd,” he said. “I didn’t know what to make of it except Halloween.” Today, Chavez paints his own version of that Latin tradition. He shows his prints in “Other Worldly Delights” at Santa Fe’s Keep Contemporary and online at alexchavez.art. Although Chavez’s images brim with life, they remain seductive reminders of its ephemeral nature. He injects more personality than bones into his portraits, with thick brushstrokes of vibrant color replacing sunken cheekbones. Chavez began his artistic practice working with […]

Alex Chavez of Taos is representative of the talented artists showing at the event. He grew up in Los Angeles, but his mother is originally from Valdez, a small village near Taos. She followed her older brother to the coast, where she eventually met Chavez’s father, who also had artistic talent but never pursued it professionally. “He usually gave away everything he made,” says Chavez, who adds that his father mainly liked to draw and create metal artwork. “There are a few pieces that me and my sisters still have. I inherited his talent.” When Chavez was a second-grader, his teacher would have him outline a picture on the blackboard with chalk. The rest of the class would then color in the scene with colored chalk right behind him. “It was like a coloring book,” Chavez laughs. The budding artist eventually graduated from California State University-Fullerton with a fine arts degree. In 1997 Chavez and his wife son and daughter bought some land and moved to Taos, where he dabbled in acrylics, watercolors and digital art before settling on oil as his primary medium of painting. “Oil is the most challenging thing,” he says. “It’s a whole different animal!” And […]

“Art Motif Magazine’s next featured artist, Alex Chavez, is doing just that. Take a look at our interview with Mr. Chavez below to see how he has embraced the role of perpetual learner with utmost grace and gusto as he elevates his artistic game to a whole new masterful level.. ”