Painting my Culture

A few days ago, I was called by my amazing and talented friend Judith to work with her on a couple of models. She told me that the designs were going to be Lucha Libre masks (Mexican Wrestling masks). Without hesitation I jumped into the opportunity after all is not every day I paint Mexican wrestling masks.

I was so excited to join Judith, who is another extremely talented artist, and take inspiration from something I grew up on and that has been part of Mexican culture for many years.

One of my dearest memories of my childhood, is waking up on Sunday mornings to the sounds of beloved Female Mexican icons like Aida Cuevas, Lola Beltran and Flor Silvestre who happened to be married to a another great singer Antonio Aguilar.

Aside from the sound of Ranchera or Mariachi music playing in the background, I would also notice the smell of detergents like Ariel, Jabon Zote or Pinol my grandmother would use. While she washed and cleaned, she would also be calling us to wake up. She then, would come inside and start making breakfast with the help of my aunts.

Once breakfast was done, everyone would gather around the table and eat together while the TV was on channel 5 were the Lubra Libre was shown.

Great childhood memories that remain in my heart.

Now many years later, here I am about to paint these beautiful ladies. The models are part of a community in East LA portraying Mexican Culture through multiple events during the year. This time around they were called by Pelayo Productions (Judith's Friend) to model for advertisement for the popular La Bulla Event. The models needed to have their face painted and wear amazing suits

created by the famous Loretta Vampz (Loretta's Instagram page not suited for People under 18yrs old).

Later that day we painted guest and ourselves with Lucha Libre masks.

If you would like to know more about Lucha Libre history in Mexican Culture click here.