The renowned advertising artist of international brands, originally from the community of Aguaverde, Rosario, leaves all his heart and feelings in the most important mural of his career
Mazatlán, Sinaloa.- 23 years after starting his pictorial career, Sergio Ramírez Ríos achieved one of his most longed-for dreams: painting a large mural.
Since he was little he showed painting skills. His first strokes led him to draw animated characters, thus he began to discover his true passion. Today he is a consolidated artist, who has triumphed in important cities such as Los Angeles and New York, but acknowledges that it has been a difficult road to travel.
He always had the illusion of capturing some work in his beloved Mazatlán, until he managed to finalize some projects. One of its objectives is to leave a work that will represent the port and show how beautiful it is.
It was there that he began his adventure of painting the facade of The Inn At Mazatlán Hotel, without imagining that it would become one of his best works due to the challenge he faced during the process.
After two months, he saw a dream come to fruition, but also one of his greatest challenges, since he is used to painting on flat surfaces, in cities of the United States, where it is not so hot and there is not as much humidity as in Mazatlán, but That didn’t stop him from accepting the challenge and finishing it.
” The reliefs on the façade of The Inn Hotel, the balconies, the windows and the planters made the work twice as difficult, however, after almost two months of work I am satisfied with the result. It was a great challenge, it is the most difficult work. important thing that I have accomplished in my life and I am very proud, it is like a dream come true, I never thought it would be such a big challenge ”.
He remembers that his first mural was painted in an internet cafe at the Freeman Hotel in Mazatlán, his first major project, the second was a mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe that he painted in the temple of his town, a work that opened the doors to paint in The Inn’s Hotel is the third major project.
The artist, who is originally from Aguaverde, Rosario, was the one who proposed the design of the mural, three dolphins emerging from the sea, which now looks imposing on the facade of the 16-story hotel at 45 meters high.
” I had never done anything about the sea and dolphins, everything I have done is more like advertising, it is the first time that I do something that is mine, my own design and in this type of buildings with this type of architecture not only because of the architecture but also because I drew it freehand and in record time. “
Sergio, 43 years old, has in mind to continue pursuing his dreams, one of them is to study art to learn new techniques to translate them into his works and thus take his art to other countries, but first, he will focus on other four projects he has here in Mazatlán and in promoting culture in the children of his town through his Bartola Foundation.
” This is the first of five pieces that comes a lot to work with this group and there are also other companies interested in my work and I know that a lot more is coming to Mazatlán “
The artist invited young people not to give up, that they are the ones who rule their lives and not third parties because in the end, they will be the ones who live from the decisions they make on the way to reach a goal.
For the renowned muralist in the United States, the advertising theme is handled a lot with the appearance of murals, in addition, many artistic expressions are reflected on large walls of buildings, in Mexico the taboo that it is vandalism is still quite ingrained.
And it is through his Bartola foundation, a name that he takes up in honor of his grandmother, to generate artistic training among children and young people and express their feelings through art, as a way of eliminating the thought that painting a wall is only for the vandals or even keep them away from ways such as belonging to cartels, as the Sinaloans have been stigmatized.
” This type of work can diminish the taboos that exist in urban art, it can even give a huge boom to any form of art there is a lot of talent in Mazatlán there has always been and this is a platform so that everyone can be inspired.
HIS CAREER
The first obstacles were found in his own family. His parents pushed him to pursue a university degree, his life had not been easy and they considered that art did not leave to live and they did not want something like that for him.
Even knowing that this did not make him happy, he paid attention to his parents and after graduating in Electronic Engineering, he decided to seek luck in the city of Tijuana, where he got a job as a manager of a company, but it did not please him at all. . It was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, so he decided to quit.
After spending nights without being able to sleep thinking about his future, he returned home, where he began his career as a painter; the parish of his town was the place where he first painted a mural.
Ignoring the success of those works and the words that the priest told him, Ramírez again traveled to Los Angeles where, precisely, those murals would give him the opportunity for an interview to work in a company that was dedicated to painting advertising murals. From that moment, Sergio began to appear as a painter.
Years passed and his career progressed until he worked in New York, there he had the opportunity to work for international brands such as Gucci, Puma, Adidas, among many more.
“I knew that I had something, that I had to develop it; After Los Angeles, many doors were opened for me, they were years of learning and satisfaction, but there was still more to do ”.
Source: elsoldemazatlan.com.mx
