Magician/sage/artist Macsorro was born in Michoacán, Mexico in 1981 and moved to Los Angeles at the young age of 12 from where his apprenticeship to a life of artistry began. Macsorro’s work, consisting of tightly rendered surrealist images, casts a visual spell steeped in devastation. Averaging no more than 7 by 7 inches, each composition is encoded with profound symbolism and post apocalyptic imagery. Like a skilled mental-puppeteer, Macsorro decisively manipulates his cryptic visual library to address politics, love and the human-cultural experience.
Nathan Cartwright: How did you end up coming to America and becoming an artist?
Macsorro: Living with my father was very difficult. His violent behavior drove me to lie and convinced him to bring me to LA to visit my mother. One visa and a bus ride from hell that lasted three days straight later, we arrived in downtown LA. Before I could say “no habla ingles” the visit was over and I stayed.
I’ve always had a natural need to draw. I started drawing still-lifes at the age of five. Maybe it was the lack of a Nintendo system that gave me the time and space to hone in on my creative skills.
Nathan Cartwright: You are a self-taught artist. Are you gifted or just hard working?
Macsorro: I think the “need” is the gift. I need to paint. Every single day I do it whether if it’s just for a few minutes or a few hours. My work is very time consuming…for instance, when I paint hair, each one has three layers or more and I average fifty to one hundred hairs per square inch. I know, I’m crazy! In addition, I have the “need” to better my skill. Each time I paint, I try to out-do my last piece.
Nathan Cartwright: What type of artist would you say you are? Political, Surrealist, Low Brow, or High Brow???
Macsorro: I’m a surrealist that uses some Low Brow spice with a political agenda! Okay, maybe not… politics and human ethics move me the most. They inspire me to speak out through my most natural mode of expression, art.
Nathan Cartwright: I’m trying to crack your code, bro. Tell me about some of your symbols? The headless dogs? The furry blobs? The little boy?
Macsorro: First of all, dogs, I don’t like them. At the age of six or so, I was bitten pretty badly on my back and later that year on my foot. When I’m around dogs I get subconsciously nervous. I try to stop it, I really do, but it always happens, no matter what. Generally, in my imagery, the dog represents fear or something violent for me. The “boxiness” of some of my characters reminds me of city buildings. The blob is an entity without meaning or purpose in life, soulless, just wasting away.
Nathan Cartwright: What advice do you have for those attempting to make it in the art world?
Macsorro: Make sure it remains fun, engaging, and as a learning experience. Learn from experience and all the artists around you. I never stop studying and appreciating other people’s works of art.