Jazzamoart

Jazzamoart (born May 28, 1951) is a Mexican artist best known for his painting which is mostly connected to jazz music in some way.

Born Francisco Javier Vázques Estupiñán in Irapuato, Guanajuato, his talent was recognized early and he took his professional name from his dual passions of jazz and art.

He is best known as a painter with over 400 individual and collective exhibitions on several continents, but he has also done monumental sculpture, stage scenery and has collaborated with musicians.

He lives in Mexico City.

Jazzamoart was born with the name of Francisco Javier Vázques Estupiñán on May 28, 1951, in Irapuato, Guanajuato.

He is one of seven children born to Rasaura Estupiñán and Javier Vázquez Farfán.

He comes from a family of artists, having contact with art from a young age.

He says his childhood home as a gathering place for artists and writers.

His father is a painter and was his first teacher.

His father recognized his talent and created a studio for him when he was only six.

At age twelve, he created landscapes of the Bajío region and began to sell his work when he was still a minor.

As a teen he exhibited his work at the Museo Nacional de Antropología and at an exhibition at Chapultepec Castle, Agustín Yañez, the Secretary of Public Education, saw his work and offered a scholarship.

In the early 1960s, he once helped musician Freddy Marichal carrying his drums at a club called Fra Diavolo.

He heard the music and was fascinated and began to draw musicians.

He first began to call himself Jazzamoart at age 20, when he first began collecting jazz records and painting to them.

The name is a fusion of the words “jazz,” “amo” (I love) and “art.” He is a serious collector of records, buying at least one every week for the last quarter century.

The jazz collection is wide-ranging and current but his favorites are classics such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk.

He is not a fan of New Orleans jazz saying that it is too mellow and lacks intensity.

His obsession with jazz music is such that musicians often appear in his dreams, especially Charlie Parker.

He entered the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in 1969 with Manuel Herrera Cartalla and Gilberto Aceves Navarro among his teachers.

His exposure to music began early as well.

His grandfather owned the most luxurious salon in Irapuato called El Lujo.

One peculiarity of the establishment was that all the barbers played an instrument such as banjos and clarinets giving him some of his first exposure to jazz.

During the rest of the 1970s he presented his first sculptures at ARCON Gallery in Mexico City (1976) and exhibited his work at the Tercer Espacio Gallery in Tampico, Juglar Gallery, El Agora Gallery in Mexico City (1976), Casa de la Paz in Mexico City (1977), Teatro Principal in Guanajuato and the Concurso de Pintura Dante Alighieri in Mexico City (1979).

His first professional exhibition was in 1971 at the Centro Cultural Isidro Fabela in Mexico City.

His first individual exhibition was in 1972 at the Centro Cultural San Ángel in Mexico City.

In 1973, he married Nora Smith, who has since managed the business end of the art as well as the driving as Jazzamoart chooses not to learn.

The couple have three children, Jazzamoart, Viart (“via”(life) and “art”) and Poettier (“poet” and “tier”(earth)).

They also have one grandson, who is also named Jazzamoart.

He lives in Mexico City, with his studio, father's apartment and brother's music studio across the street.

His oldest son plays saxophone and has toured with bands in Latin America, the US and Europe.

Jazzamoart began his career selling paintings of generic scenes of Mexican life on the streets of Mexico City.

Today he is a successful painter and sculptor but is better known for his painting.

He has had over 350 individual and collective exhibitions of his work on various continents.

In the 1980s, he exhibited at the Concurso National de Arte de INBA (1981, 1982, 1985), I Bienal Tamayo (1982), the Metropolitan Gallery of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, José María Velasco Gallery and Chapultepec Gallery (1983), Palacio de Bellas Artes (1984, 1986), Museo del Chopo and Ollin Yolliztli in Mexico City, Casa de Artes de Oaxaca(1984), Phoenix Art Museum, L’space Cardin Gallery in Paris, the Joan Miró Internactional Drawing Competition in Barcelona, and the Rufino Tamayo Museum (1985), I Biennal in Cuenca, Ecuador, III Tamayo Biennial and I Biennial in Miami (1986), Bronx Museum of the Arts, Carrillo Gil Art Museum and San Carlos Museum in Mexico City (1987) and the Scott Alan Gallery (1988).

In 1981 he created the stage setting for the Jazz Festival at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City.

In the 1990s, he exhibited at the Museo de Arte Moderno, Museo de la Estampa (1990), the Iturralde Gallery, the Los Angeles WTC, Contemporary Gallery in Mexico City (1991), Europalia Festival in Ostend, Belgium, ITESM Campus Estado de México, the former Monastery of San Agustin in Zacatecas, the Palace of Iturbide in Mexico City, the Triennial of Osaka, Japan (1993), Belem Cultural Center in Lisbon, Centro México XXI in Mexico City, Fine Arts Institute in San José, Costa Rica (1994), Cineteca Nacional, José Luis Cuevas Museum in Mexico City (1995), Gallery Norske Grafikere in Oslo, Del Carmen Museum, Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros in Mexico City, Kerava Museum, Joenbuv Museum and Rovaniemi Museum in Helsinki, (1996) Pecannins Gallery, Kin Gallery in Mexico City, Casa de Cultura in Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexican Cultural institute of Copenhagen, Do Brinquedo Museum in Portugal, Museum of the Americas in Denver (1997), Gallery Kyra Marlat in Berlin, Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California (1998), Casa de Diego Rivera in Guanajuato, San Ildefonso College and the SCHP Museum in Mexico City(1999).

In the 2000s, he exhibited at UNAM, Hospicio Cabañas in Guadalajara, MACAY Museum in Mérida, Rye Arts Center in New York,(2000) José Luis Cuevas Museum, Gallery of the International Airport in Mexico City, New Gallery Space in New York, Art in Context Gallery in Naples, Florida (2001), Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, Festival Internacional Cervantino, Lourdes Chumacero Gallery in Mexico City (2002), Mexico Institute in San Antonio and Washington DC, Marco Museum in Monterrey (2003), Manuel Felguérez Museum in Zacatecas, the Tlaxcala Art Museum, the Montreal International Jazz Festival (2004), Tour de la Bourse in Montreal, Hyogo Prefectural Museum in Kobe (2005), World Trade Center Mexico City, Mexican Stock Exchange, ITESM-Irapuato, Castle Gallery in New York, Vismara Gallery in Italy (2006), Costumbrista Museum in Sonora, Raúl Anguiano Museum in Guadalajara, Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City (2007), North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Espacio Cultural Metropolitano in Tampico, Vértice Gallery in Puerto Vallarta (2008), Laberinto Museum in San Luis Potosí and Torre Mayor in Mexico City.

In addition to exhibitions, he has done work related to the music industry, especially jazz artists.

His visual works and stage settings have appeared with well-known jazz musicians.