Oscar Axo
Born in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, Oscar Axo studied Visual Arts at the Faculty of Art and Design.
Through his interests in muralism, urban art caught his heart in 2012. From then on, he tried to gaze the eyes of his audience by portraying freedom and lightness as a response to the heaviness of everyday life. To do this, he resorts to dreaming, which is a compendium of figuration and mysticism. His main inspiration is the aesthetic culture of peoples in Oaxaca, especially the Oaxacan Mixtec culture.
If you were allowed to meet a famous person, living or dead: Who would it be and why?
Michelangelo, without a doubt. I would like to be able to observe the process of his drawing. I think that his drawing is a portent of human creativity.
Why are you most grateful for three things in your life?
My family, being alive and healthy, the opportunity to follow my dreams in art
If you were allowed to change one thing in the world, what would it be?
I would change the macroeconomic systems that exclude the equal development of nations.
Why would you get up in the middle of the night? What decision in your life would you like to undo in retrospect?
I would get up perhaps to draw some interesting dreams. In dreams I usually find very interesting connections and realities that deserve to be captured in a work of art. I have had many not very good decisions, but none would take it away from my life; because afterwards they have become very important moments of personal growth. Perhaps they are the situations that we do not like to talk about, but that build all our successes.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
Collaborating with my community and sharing my culture and dreams in other countries.
To be able to create art in these times is an extraordinary gift that carries with it a lot of responsibility. In an increasingly individualized world, art is a call to dialogue and to get closer to others. It is also a comfort to the soul in difficult times. If we have the gift, we have an obligation to work hard to develop and share it.
Featured projects.
– „El Gigante“, commemorative mural 15 years of the Spain Cultural Center in Mexico, 2017.
– „Istmeño Heart“, Ixtaltepec, Oaxaca, 2018
– “Trobadour”, Urban Art Hall, Berlin, Germany, 2018
– “Il Gigante Sardo”, Campidarte residence, Sardinia Italy, 2018.
– “Niño Copal”, Bioconservation Center “Palo que Habla” (Jacobo and María Ángeles Workshop), San Martin Tilcaljete, Oaxaca, 2019.
-Mural in the city of Scheibbs, Austria, sponsored by iOnArt. 2019
-Mural Creativity and education of Puebla childhood „,“ La Rueda „project, Puebla, 2019.
– “El Tequio”, room 076 of the “Hotel 128” in Street Art City, Lurcy Levis, France, 2019.
– “Flor y Canto”, Berlin, Germany, 2019.
-Collaborative mural with the artist Hera from the duo Herakut, Goethe Institute; CDMX, 2020.
-Mural at the Teatro del Pueblo, Atlacomulco, State of Mexico, 2020.
-Mural made during the residency of World Art Destinations in Cholula, Puebla, 2020.
Oscar Axo – Mural City project – 3 days in Scheibbs 2019
A dialogue between nature and city. Both receive the sacred gifts of earth represented by fireflies.
Oscar Axo – Photo: Eduardo Vicre – Atlacomulco, Mexico
What was the best decision in your artist’s life and career?
It was to dare to embark on the adventure of artistic enterprise. To leave my job safely to follow this dream that is called art. At that moment I was able to fly for the first time.
If you were a food: what would it be?
A tlayuda (a tortilla with meat typical of Oaxaca in Mexico).
What question have you not had an answer to lately and were able to find it?
Sometimes unknowable things come in life, but they are only for a moment. I understood that there are cycles and that you have to „let life fly“, let it flow. What is destined for us will come, if we are sincere, maybe not where we believed or maybe yes. Let life surprise us and not force it.
How often do you look at your cell phone every day?
Enough time to publish the new adventures and experiences in my life as an artist and keep creating new projects.
What work did your parents have in mind for you?
They wanted me to be a doctor. Hehe!
What is your next project?
To paint an 8-meter high pillar in a festival called „Traza“ in the Mexican city of Guadalajara.
What was the best compliment someone ever gave you?
It was a recent event, a lady seeing a wall she was doing in a Mexican city called Cholula . She had suffered from the death of a family member in the recent pandemic. She thanked me, as the mural reminded her that life is beautiful and that every moment is beautiful, despite the darkness. At that moment I understood that it was worth all the effort to create.
What couldn’t you do without in your life?
Spirituality, that sincere search born from the depths of the soul.
What was your favorite subject in school?
I loved biology. In art school I loved the mural painting class.
If your life were filmed, what actor would play you?
Sean Penn
If you had three wishes: What would they be?
I would like to build a research center for Mixtec culture (it is the culture of the place where I was born). To be able to create works as great as my idols. To know more countries in the world.
What would you do if you had infinite money?
Without a doubt I would support projects that contribute to building a better future for everyone.
