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Martha Ortíz Sotres is a Mexican woman, mother, abstract and conceptual artist, and a teacher by profession and vocation. A gracious lady who believes in supporting other women. Whose talent and eloquence glow in each of her creative pieces.
As an artist and muralist, Ortíz Sotres is no stranger to Mexico’s social reality. She considers hers to be a country of great creators and that culture plays a central role in any social analysis. She knows there’s no need to represent violence for us to reflect on it. Even some of her works exhibited at the National Center for the Arts in Mexico City subtly invite this reflection.
Martha Ortiz Sotres’ love for Mexico is evident through her knowledge of the national history and current situation and her support for different causes, especially those that benefit women.
From her trenches, the artist has combated stereotypes about women in art, such as the traditional thought according to which women only paint flowers. As an artist and a Mexican, she thanks the extraordinary Frida Kahlo for having opened the doors of Latin American art to the world.
The teacher Ortiz Sotres considers that her success is due not only to her talent but also to the perseverance, diligence, and confidence that has led her to participate in grand exhibitions in Mexico, Bolivia, China, Monaco, and England, to name just a few. She has received several awards in Italy. She shares with us that Prince Albert II of Monaco, who has invited her to exhibit at the Principality Gala, is among the proud buyers of her art.
A great recognition for the muralist is that to this day, Martha Ortiz Sotres is the only woman who in Ciudad Universitaria shares space with the prominent muralists David Alfaro Siqueiros, Juan O’Gorman, and Diego Rivera.
The artist comes from a family with a long artistic career. Her grandfather was a 19th-century architect and church restorer. Her uncle, Luis Ortiz Torres, was an artist known for imposing and dramatic works, just like her father. Since she was a child, she felt the need to paint. Today she thanks her mother for never limiting her and allowing her to paint with oil, sometimes on the bed.
From an early age, she began to paint reproductions of famous works and sold them while studying at the university. She found her vocation as an artist when, at the invitation of a friend, she decided to enroll in painting lessons, where she continued learning and cultivating her talent with great discipline and total dedication to art. She acknowledges and appreciates the support of great masters from the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas, the influence of the muralist José Hernández Delgadillo and the watercolorists Manuel Arrieta and Luis Nishizawa. However, it was not until she met the maestro Osvaldo Barra Cunningham- the disciple of Diego River a- that she discovered her artistic voice. The maestro, who opened the doors to the world of muralism, made her understand that the brush is the extension of the arm and that all creation comes from oneself.
Sculpture is another of her great passions. She has given birth to pieces in techniques like stone, iron, and bronze. It is a work carried out with care and in collaboration with the foundry master with whom she has worked for years.
Her creative time was seldom at dawn. That allowed her to combine family life with professional life. Her daughter Jimena, who has become an expert in the art world, is her support in public relations, production, editing, and many other responsibilities. Thus she manages to share the art not only of her mother but also of other artists.
The artist comments that art requires time and dedication. She has participated in over 500 collective and 43 individual exhibitions; and has made murals in different countries. Much like Federico Silva and authors from other Latin American countries, Martha Ortíz Sotres dreams and actively fights to promote art and turn the city into an open museum. Today, she and her daughter Jimena plan to organize an international meeting of muralists; they are currently looking for sponsors for this task, the perfect dream to share the Mexican muralist tradition with the world.
Interview by / edited by
Avril Parrillat / Bárbara Vuga
images
Statement, Alan González S.
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