La Llorona Gallery is proud to bring for the second time an exhibition of 22 prints and drawings by Nicolas De Jesus from Ameyaltepec, Mexico.

La Llorona Art Gallery, 1474 W. Webster, Chicago, features the opening reception of “The Earth’s Color” Works on bark paper by Nicolas de Jesus. This is an exhibition of 30 etchings and drawings that are part of a series that includes themes such as death, oppression of the indigenous peoples, injustices and hardships of modern life, and diverse references of Mexican folk art that draw upon his experiences from
being a member of the Nahua community.

The exhibition closes on May 30, 2006.

The extremes of social inequality which he and his family experienced in their native village of Amayaltepec, located in the arid province of Guerrero, Mexico, continue to inform and pervade his work. Nicolas says that he is “an engraver, a defender of
the rights of indigenous peoples and anti-clerical.” Using wit and satire, Nicolas is a printmaker and muralist whose career has developed from its beginnings as the son of one of the founders of the Amate School of Mexican folk artists from Guerrero,
through a period in Chicago in the 1990’s, to international standing, with exhibitions throughout Mexico, the United States, France, England, Japan and Holland. Drawing on his life experiences living with a Nahua community, Nicolas explains that to create, one must explore one’s internal memories. Those memories, such as the celebrations of his town and how the elders prepared for those ceremonies, resurface in his etchings and paintings.

His career began in 1982 with the painter Felipe Ehrenberg, from whom he learned the techniques of printmaking. Nicolas is best known for his works on amate ­ bark paper, a traditional product of trees local to the San Pablito, Puebla region, pre-dating the arrival of the Spanish in Central America. But Nicolas De Jesus is also a prolific illustrator and muralist, his work adorning books with the text in Nahuatl and which have been translated into English and French.

La Llorona Gallery is open Tuesday ­ Friday, 10:30 a.m.­ 6 p.m.