EL PASO, TEXAS 1969...

“WANDERING THROUGH THE HOUSE, I STOPPED AT THE ENCYCLOPEDIAS...

WITH A PEN AND MY 3-YEAR-OLD IMAGINATION MY ARTISTIC TALENT ERUPTED”...JAVIER

JAVIER LÓPEZ CANTÚ RESIDES IN SOUTH AUSTIN, TEXAS.

CONTACT JAVI

512-680-3308

SHOWS AND PUBLICATIONS:

CITY OF AUSTIN, PEOPLE'S EXHIBITION AT CITY HALL- CONTRIBUTING ARTIST, MARCH 2007-FEBRUARY 2008.
CITY OF AUSTIN, PEOPLE'S EXHIBITION AT CITY HALL- CONTRIBUTING ARTIST, MARCH 2006-FEBRUARY 2007.
JAVIER LOPEZ CANTU & JORGE PURON EXHIBITION AT RUTA MAYA INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS. JULY 2005. AUSTIN, TEXAS
"JUST WAR" BRADFORD STREET ART GALLERY, KEMAH, TEXAS. JANUARY 2004.
NATIONAL HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH 2003 POSTER ARTIST.
NEW TEXAS TALENT X, CRAIGHEAD-GREEN GALLERY, DALLAS,TEXAS. JULY25-AUGUST 30 ,2003. JANET KUTNER-JUROR.
EXHIBIT AT THE CITY OF AUSTIN SMALL AND MINORITY BUSINESS CTR. OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2002.
2002 ANNUAL JURIED SHOW, SAN ANTONIO ART LEAGUE MUSEUM.
“AN AUSTIN THANG,” THE UNSUNG GALLERY, AUSTIN, TEXAS. JULY 2001.
2001 ANNUAL JURIED SHOW, SAN ANTONIO ART LEAGUE MUSEUM.
THE MILLENNIUM SHOW, EL TALLER GALLERY, AUSTIN, TEXAS. SEPTEMBER 1999.
 
Javier LÓPEZ CANTÚ Artist Statement

Aside from canvas, paint, and studio time itself, the most consuming effort in bringing my art into existence is the contemplation of how to paint my subjects. Inspiration is abundant, but the thought process of determining the technique that will forever represent the moment in which my emotions grasped this moment in life is truly an art within the art. Paintings are never finished. I just have to know when to stop and to apply my name. The consistency within my work can be obscure, especially when I’m reaching out from my comfortable journey that defines my works. I still attempt to grasp experimentation in a pursuit for my deeper visual biography. Progressing in this manner, and with pieces of various series being sold, the inventory can often seem like a collection of several artists. This thought entered my mind one day while almost lost in the reflection of my work. It was a memorable moment of solitude, and an amazing experience to feel the works’ deeper connections. The acknowledgement and comprehension of the most subtle indications of consistency and techniques within the depth of my work engulfed my artistic infrastructure, bringing together the numerous pieces that I had previously viewed as having no relationship. My paintings are here, I just attempt to create them through my interpretations. I don’t stack or cover my stretched canvas. I keep it exposed on the wall or on the easel where I can stare at it until its time kick the ladder out from under my feet, allowing my creative blood to sustain me and even pull me in, enabling me to feel the hues on my skin. It may be minutes, or it may be weeks, but when the first paint is applied, the foundation for this journey couldn’t be stronger. I can have eight, nine, or ten active works in progress at any given time. This allows me to spread my thought process with patience. If I’m pausing on one canvas, it’s either due to the needed drying time, or to cultivate and position for color, an object, or just the overall composition of the piece. I try not to persuade progress, instead I can just move to another work that I’ve already worked through emotionally. Despite the endless options, I decide what approach to follow, and as I sign my name, I have no doubt the life between the canvas and the paint is the art within the art, and as the Artist, I am just a messenger. It’s spiritually balancing, and life couldn’t be life without painting it.

b. Javier López Cantú
October 13, 1966
Sinton, Texas.
Reared: San Jose, California
Resides: Austin, Texas
 

PRESS REVIEWS
 
"New artists energize the (Lone Star) state of the arts-"...raw energy and boundless enthusiasm characterize the work on view, most from artists living in North Texas and a handful of pieces from the lively pockets of creativity in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.
Austin-based painter Javier Lopez Cantu mixes urban isolation with foggy memories in West on Mary St. His large canvas--4 feet square--opens at the bottom with a two-lane road's blacktop and double yellow line.
The viewer is drawn into his recall of a streetlight parade, already glowing in a harsh yellow sunset. The feeling harks back to Edward Hopper's classic themes of isolation in modern life, but Lopez Cantu forgoes Hopper's detail along the roadside. There's only a smoky fog where trees or empty houses or lonely businesses would be."
By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe, Special to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Aug 23, 2003.
 
"The Unsung Gallery celebrates funky vitality in "An Austin Thang," a small collection of images of our city. Most striking are the off-center, gouache cityscapes by Javier Lopez Cantu, which feature bulky buildings, empty sidewalks, odd street corners, all rendered in hot reds, purples, and greens. Cantu usually includes an overwhelmed figure-a woman in a window, a musician at a bus stop, a barefoot woman at a public telephone. His drafting is awkward, which gives his paintings a folkish flavor, whether intentional or not.
No other artist in the grouping stands out..."
By Michael Barnes, American-Statesman Arts Critic, July 28, 2001.

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