Meet Plutarco Zazueta | Plastic Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Plutarco Zazueta and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Plutarco, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
From my personal experience, if i dont feel motivated for an activity or an art piece, that I really enojyed before, it means that I have to stop. It resumes in being honest with oneself, and ask yourself if you are seeking a goal based on what you think people will accept or you are really boarding a subject that you share, with a discipline that you like.

Tha last time that I left an unfinished art piece, was because I thought woodblock printing was something that made my work recognizable, but the topic that I was working on was very personal and the only way I felt that the idea could be comunicated in the right way, was on sculpture. Sometimes, is not necessary to fully give up an idea, but to find the right medium that makes you feel comfortable. Even if that means to walk away from what distinguish you and explore something new.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
This last year I started to explore new materials and disciplines, from serigraphie to a sculpture of silicone. One idea I was glad that I finally made was to print shirts and sweaters with my own designs, its far from being a formal brand, but was something that i wanted to explore, but also use this technique to make prints on paper, I enjoyed learning this things because of the similarities with traditional printing techniques, such as woodblock printing. But also for the unique aspects that only serigraphie can give you, one of them being faster to finish a piece witch many colors, instead of carving multiple blocks, revealing diferent screens saves you time.

Helping in murals was something that I stopped doing cause the university started to demand me more time, but an oportunity appeared, a class of muralism was created and I joined as part of the first generation, between the group we started to sketch and write a letter explaining what we wanted to portray. And we ended up making a mural twenty-six feet tall for the Faculty of Arts of our University.

One project that I am excited about, is an artist book. Two years ago I made one criticizing the musical genre of the Narcocorridos, using the ends of an accordion toy as the cover for the pages that were standing in zic zac form. But the materials were a limitation, using cardboard and fabric made the piece informal. Now I want to remake it in a more proper way, starting with using a real accordion, that was the first step. Is an idea that I have developing the last six months, working in classes an written with sketches, researching backgrounds and writing what I want to portray of the negative consequences of the Narcocorridos in Mexico. That is what I will be working on the next four months.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
For having a coffee I will recomend two coffee shops, Glitchhouse and Brewja. Both of them, besides of having good drinks, are sorrounded by artistic events and both are artistic spots, Glitchhouse have this basement with merch of musicians, paintors, and there you can find an old tv with old consoles to play with, also every Thursday they have this activity where they wrap all their tables with white paper and hand you a black sharpie so you can draw freely in your table while you have your favorite drink.

And Brewja is also a coffee shop where cultural events happens almost every sunday, they share their walls to artist that want to exhibit their art and in their parking lot they make this events, where musicians can play, artists can exhibit their art to sale, the variety of what you can find goes from ceramics, paintings, works of serigraphie, stickers, prints, to local clothing brands and sets for quick photo sessions.

Brewja and Glitchhouse are places where the cultural and artistic scenes in Tijuana finally have found spots to grow locally.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to shoutout the artists Ivan Arevalo and Mostaza Silvia, during the quarantine of Covid-19, my online classes at the university were not the best, and some activities that really helped me to grow and learn was to help them in their murals, they thaught me and adviced me everything they could, something that I deeply appreciate. For months, my weekly routines were to wake up, took classes and as soon they ended I went to helped them painting murals, those activites kept me motivated during those times, I considered them my teachers.

Website: https://sites.google.com/uabc.edu.mx/plutarcozazueta/inicio

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_plutarco/?hl=es-la

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PlutarcoZazuetaCervera/