Carlos Cortez
 


CARLOS CORTÉZ began as a painter and turned to linoleum prints in the late 1950s. The artist recalls that in the 1970s and 1980s the price of linoleum kept rising, and it was then that he turned to woodcuts using any type of wood available, even discarded cabinet doors and desktops. Wood has a character of its own, complete with knots and flaws as well as serendipitous fine grains and suggestive flows. The difficulties and rewards are multiplied when the wood has been previously fashioned or set by a prior use. Although art and message are foremost for Cortéz, he has developed a rapport with wood. His woodcuts display a finer, more concentrated working than materials such as linoleum. The linoleum prints often show a greater economy of image; direct, strong and more stylized. He has been described as self-taught, but it is perhaps more accurate to say that over many years his materials and his talent have taught him, and given him the language for his beliefs and feelings. The art and man are one; at times advocate and at times observer. They contain both manifesto and poetry, in short, language.
 


So This is What Your Taxes Buy You

Joe Hill

Viva La Huelga

 


Ricardo de Flores-Magon