“Posada, an inexhaustible source of inspiration,” says monero Rocha

The work of the engraver and illustrator José Guadalupe Posada is like Mexico: infinitesays the cartoonist Gonzalo Rocha, who the day after tomorrow opens his exhibition Posada: Life is worth nothing… And the sheet of paper sheds a pennyin the Los Pinos Cultural Complex.

After six years of deep admiration and study, the collaborator of The Day presents a collection of 30 pieces that explore various aspects of Posadist creation, from lithographs to engravings and silkscreens. Posada managed to develop a very Mexican styleexplained Rocha in an interview, who pays tribute to this icon of national graphics.

Between laughter and reflections, he highlighted Posada’s versatility: “He did everything: illustrations for children, cooking recipe books, skulls, political cartoons… and he always found something new. It’s like his work is alive, it reveals things you haven’t seen before.”

This immensity of possibilities has kept Rocha captivated, allowing him to rediscover Posada from different angles. It is a job that never endshe stated.

However, the connection between Posada and Gonzalo Rocha (Mexico City, 1964) goes beyond admiration. As a cartoonist, the latter also faces the pressure of delivering his work under tight deadlines. Recognize that Much of Posada’s technique has to do with developing a quick way of doing things.

Unlike Posada, who worked quickly by using your machinesRocha prefers to take his time now that those techniques have become obsolete. However, his work in the political cartoon reflects the urgency of capturing the reality of his time.

The exhibition, which will also include the presentation of the graphic novel of the same name on November 2, in the same cultural space, is a personal reinterpretation of the engraver’s work. Rocha not only admires Posada as a caricaturist, but also uses his work as a basis to experiment with other styles.

Suddenly I do Picasso things, other times I go to pop, always approaching Posada. I use it as a reference to transform your workhe said, adding that this creative exercise has allowed him to explore facets that Posada did not touch on, such as eroticism, present in several pieces in the exhibition.

Death and violence, always present in Mexico

The title of the exhibition, which evokes the famous song by José Alfredo Jiménez, is no coincidence. Rocha pointed out that it could be a communicating vessel between both: Posada portrayed a very violent and cathartic life, full of deaths, as the song does. Unfortunately, this violence is still valid in Mexico. It seems that we have always been a country where death is present, and Posada reflected it better than anyone.

Furthermore, Rocha integrates social and political criticism into his work, a legacy of Posada. Although he sympathizes with the current government, he maintains that the role of the cartoonist is to be critical.

Power is never perfect. You have to find spaces for criticism, and that is something that Posada also did. Although Mexican muralists mythologized him as a committed artist, Rocha considers him rather a portraitist of everyday life, who captured social tensions without necessarily being an activist.

Rocha reflected on the techniques he uses, many of which share roots with those Posada used in the 19th century. Posada used lithography, engraving and screen printing, which at the time were means of reproduction. Today they are seen as artistic techniques, but at the time they sought to make their work more accessible..

The montage, which will include 47 of the 150 pages of the graphic novel, was carried out with a grant from the System of Support for Creation and Cultural Projects. Rocha began this project in the middle of the pandemic, when the possibility of exhibiting seemed distant. However, he had the opportunity to take it first to Oaxaca, then to Mérida, Durango, San Luis Potosí and Querétaro, until finally reaching Mexico City.

The trajectory of monero in The Day It is presented as a journey of continuous learning, where each page of the newspaper becomes a lesson in art and politics. Here it has been a schoolhe maintains, since in his years of work he has had the freedom to explore and experiment, which has allowed his work to be enriched with the voices and stories that revolve around Mexican reality.

“I have always been closely linked to art and graphics. I pay tribute to our director and mentor, Carlos Payán, who always sponsored us in our creative experiments. He was a great friend of Rufino Tamayo and Francisco Toledo, who contributed their works to finance independent journalism.

Posada’s work is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and a mirror that reflects Mexican reality throughout the centuries. In many aspects, I continue his legacy: a deeply national and, at the same time, universal work, with a great capacity for synthesis, sophisticated, and always focused on the present.he concluded.

The exhibition Posada: Life is worth nothing… And the sheet of paper sheds a penny It will be inaugurated next Saturday at 12 noon in cabin 1 of the Los Pinos Cultural Complex.