Rick Bayless is chef of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo in Chicago, creator of Frontera gourmet foods, cookbook author and host of Mexico - One Plate at a Time.
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Art Collection: Rolando Rojasprint-friendly versionRolando Rojas (b. 1970) 
Rolando Rojas’ current works of art, which often combine earth with oil paints, reflect the current Oaxacan school of painting with its texture and tones. This young artist’s early training was in architecture and later in art restoration. These two applied fields of study allowed him to make a living in the colonial city of Oaxaca and to finance his painting career. During the early nineties, Rojas was given the tremendous honor of painting a mural in one of the side chapels of this city’s revered Basilica de la Soledad. This commission combined his love of painting with the education and training he had received.Rolando Rojas’s paintings generally depict festive and happy times. His figures are not specific individuals, but rather the essence of people interacting—both man and woman at the same time. They are ageless and timeless characters at play. The creative way in which he works out his paintings is far more intuitive than the calculated and precise methods he learned as an architect. Rojas begins by applying a few brush strokes onto the canvas and then allowing the shapes and medium to emerge and define itself rather than imposing the forms and ideas from the onset. This method of painting, although not based in a formal and rigid discipline, is only possible because of his early career in architecture, in which drawing, composition and the understanding of space were critical tools to be mastered. |
