Native Arts
Wolf Schneider
A Mexican sculptor fines his niche in Gallup, NM
 Angel, Limestone, 12 x 18 x 4 |
Francisco Ochoa has done sculptures for public spaces in such far-flung locales as Japan, the Czech Republic, and Mexico. This Mexican-born artist has become known worldwide for figurative stone pieces that have a primitive sensibility to them—folkloric figures of men with guitars, angels reclining, and a grinning skull reminiscent of Day of the Dead artwork. “The Mexican tradition is being playful. That’s not a scary holiday—it makes fun of death. That’s a Mexican trait. We don’t dwell on it, we just take it as it comes,” says Ochoa.
He works mainly in stone and occasionally in welded steel. “I like stone because it’s so immediate. You do it and it’s done. You don’t have to worry about anybody else coming and touching it [like you would with the bronze-casting process]. And it’s one of a kind,” he points out. “My forte is limestone figurative sculpture, carved in the simplest possible manner to express the ideas I like to convey about relationships and basic feelings.” His sculptures range from a foot tall to 6 feet, and, as he explains, “I only do what I want to do, even if they are commissions. Not that I must have total control—if somebody wants something, I talk to them and we agree on an idea.”
Ochoa, 58, is based in the northwestern New Mexico town of Gallup, which is best known for its Navajos and Hopis and not nearly as famous for its fine art as Santa Fe and Taos. But Ochoa reflects, “I’m not a Santa Fe guy. In Gallup, what you see is what you get. We have the Native Americans who make up most of the town, and a large percentage of Mexicans and Anglos.” There’s also a varied mix of life experiences in Gallup. “A lot of people come here who have had careers in the Peace Corps and things like that. It makes it interesting. I like being among the red mesas and Indian reservations,” Ochoa says.
Three times a year, he drives to his second home near Guaymas, Mexico, a place that serves as an inspiration point for him. “I go there and explore work,” he explains. “People don’t realize how strong art is in Mexico. Even in humble homes, people have art. There’s always an artistic touch. You see it in the way homes are painted, with the walls different wild colors. There’s an aesthetic there. The art scene is diverse, and there’s the mural movement, too.” These stays have influenced how he lives in the States, as well. “After I went to Oaxaca,” Ochoa offers, “I painted my Gallup walls in different colors—polenta yellow, blue, and purple.”
Ochoa was born in the tiny town of Choix, Mexico, not too far from Guaymas, in 1949, and grew up in the Sierra Madre Mountains with no phones, running water, electricity, or roads. “I imagine I draw from that experience in my work,” he says. “I was a free spirit.” In 1968, his parents sent him to a Los Angeles school to learn English. He returned, earned a master’s degree in linguistics from the Universidad de Guadalajara, then came to the States for linguistics courses at Georgetown University, intending to become a language teacher.
“Then, after all that training in linguistics, I took two semesters at the Art Students League of New York,” he recalls. Everything changed. “My teacher said, ‘Well, you’ve got it down. What are you going to do with it?’”
So Ochoa switched careers completely, immersing himself in new influences, like early 20th-century abstract sculptor Constantin Brancusi. “He takes a piece and puts a little line on it, and it becomes a work of art,” Ochoa says. And then there’s Mexican sculptor Francisco Zúñiga—“He’s very moving, very warm, very humanistic.” And the Mexican social-realist muralists Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, of whom Ochoa declares, “They are gods!”
Ochoa married a woman studying to become a doctor, and they went to Gallup when she found a job there. They’ve stayed for 21 years. They have a home near the mountains, and he built a studio next to it to do fine-art prints. He does most of his sculpture in the open air outside the studio. He frequently drives to Scottsdale, AZ, both for its gourmet cuisine and art galleries, noting, “There are people pushing the Latin scene there.”
It’s a milieu he enjoys, but mostly, he says, “I’m a contemporary figurative sculptor. I don’t think I’m on the cutting edge by any means, but I do what I want to do, and that’s what comes out of my spirit. You have to be true to yourself.”
Ochoa is represented by Latin American Art Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ.
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