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Typical Mexican landscape. Paintings and watercolors 1972–1989
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The name of Abel Quezada (Monterrey, 1920 – Cuernavaca, 1991) resonates in our minds as the creator of different illustrated texts that reflect the political and social life of Mexico from the 40s onward; combining critique, humor, and irony. Through his capacity to decipher the Mexican spirit, recontextualize it through humor, and at the same time, voraciously critique its society and politicians, Quezada was recognized as one of the principal political cartoonists in the country. Notwithstanding, his work was not limited to cartoons: he also dedicated himself to painting, pointing to the multidisciplinary creativity of the artist. 

The exhibition at Proyectos Monclova is an integral revision of his work as a painter, bringing together works of oil on canvas as the main focus, alongside some watercolors. The body of work exhibited was created approximately between 1972 and 1989. The acknowledgment of the realities of Mexican society is the common thread that unites these works in which we encounter historical personalities including Ignacio Zaragoza, Maximiliano, and Benito Juárez. In addition to the landscapes of Temixco and Comales, Quezada explores scenes of the political climate during this time, still lifes, and different scenes of quotidian life in Mexico, such a trio of boleros, a watermelon salesman, and different representations of women. Although the works appear to have a simple narrative, every detail in them includes a touch of humor; the criticism and satire that accompanies the creative process of Quezada. The majority of the paintings exhibited are a product of his imagination and others, of his travels, the restaurants and hotels he frequented, and the painter’s life experiences. In his pictorial representations, one can recognize the influence of the Italian painter Amadeo Modigliani along with the chromatic intensity of de Kees van Dongen, however, the elements that come to the forefront of the works are those that define the painterly style of Quezada. 

Abel Quezada (Monterrey, 1920 – Cuernavaca, 1991) collaborated as a cartoonist in Ovaciones, Excélsior (1956-1976) and Novedades (1976-1989).  He drew a number of covers for The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine. As a painter, he exhibited for the first time at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City in 1985, at Museo Tamayo in Mexico City in 1984, and Museo de la Ciudad de México in 2010. He also had important exhibitions in Paris, Milan, and Genoa.