Sinaloa’s most celebrated artist captures the essence of Mazatlán

By Jackie Peterson

Antonio López Saenz comes to the door wearing an apron that says “Banda El Recodo.” He smiles and bids welcome with a hearty abrazo, and ushers his visitor to a chair. Then in answer to a question he hums a tune as he putters around his spare living room on Calle Libertad, looking for a book that has the answer. He may be Sinaloa’s most celebrated artist, but he is warm and unpretentious — not at all the haughty eccentric some celebrated artists are known to be. On this February day, a massive painting measuring about five feet wide and maybe 5 1/2 or more feet tall is in its embryonic stage on an easel in his studio. At this point it is merely the charcoal outline of a couple on a bicycle, with a few details lightly sketched in.
The maestro is not working on it today; there is too much going on with the Carnaval-related art competition that bears his name. The winner of this year’s prize for the best Sinaloa artist’s painting is about to be announced, and López Saenz will be present for the press conference along with the judges who picked the winner. Just who is this man and why is he so important that an art contest is named after him? There are other artists in Mazatlán, and some of them turn out high quality work. But there is nobody else quite like Antonio López Saenz. He is undoubtedly the most internationally renowned artist in the state of Sinaloa.
He has collectors throughout the Americas and in Europe. Two of his largest paintings are in the most prestigious art gallery in Santiago de Chile, the Museo Ralli.
A single man, he lives a simple life in the house his parents lived in before him. You realize immediately that his art is his life and he is totally dedicated to his work.
López Saenz is probably the only Sinaloa artist ever to exhibit his work at Bellas Artes in Mexico City, where 42 of his oils on canvas were hung in a one-man show in 1995. A book simply titled with his name was published in conjunction with that show, and he says he thinks it is under revision but asked about a new publication date, he shrugs. That isn’t his department.

 In addition to naming an art contest after him, the municipality has named a boulevard for López Saenz. It is in the Colonia Flores Magon, and he laughs when he says even HE can’t find it. For more than 30 years his paintings and sculptures were handled by one of the top art entrepreneurs in Mexico City, the Estela Shapiro Gallery in the swank Colonia Polanco. When Shapiro died, he says, “I looked at her commissions — she took 50% of everything she sold — and decided to open my own gallery, the Antonio López Saenz Gallery. This way, I get to keep 100%. Where? Right here in my house, by commission only.” Lopez Saenz is a true blue son of Mazatlán, having been born here in 1936 and lived here a good part of his life. He says, “I was born with this vocation. I always did it — paint and make clay figures or sand sculptures on the beach. My parents were never happy about it, but they finally agreed to send me to San Carlos (the national fine arts academy in Mexico City).” His paintings have a nostalgic quality along with a touch of whimsy. They most often reflect his background in the Mazatlßn of an earlier day: the buildings in the Centro Historico, or the ships, the sea, the beach, the fishermen, the people on the street: women walking with umbrellas and men wearing the brimmed sombreros so typical of this region. His human figures usually look like the ones in the Monument to the Millennium which he was commissioned to create and which was unveiled at midnight on Dec. 31, 1999. A tribute to the Sinaloa family looking into the future, it stands just south of Valentino’s on the Malecón. However you react to his art, you have to admit that Lopez Saenz really does capture the essence of Mazatlán. A few examples of his work hang in the permanent collection at the Mazatlán Art Museum, but he hasn’t had a local show in more than a decade. For one thing, he does not keep any of his work. It is widely scattered and, as he says, “People are reluctant to lend paintings for a show; they want to keep their art work at home. After all, that’s why they bought it.”

 

 

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