Noel Vargas Hernandez 2.69

Noel Vargas was born in Llano-Flores Abejones, an Indigenous Zapotec village located in the Sierra Juarez, a mountainous range in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Growing up in a Zapotec community, Noel learned the art of handcrafting wood and turkey bone tools from his father, and worked in the family farm planting corn, peaches. Since his early childhood, the ability of human memory to retain, store, and recall information fascinated the artist. Inspired by the lines, spots, and dots of “The play instinct acting on my feelings to express , is the synthesis of representation of ideas and sounds,” zapotec glyphs, and the texture and color of the Sierra Juarez, Noel’s body of work attempts an aesthetic articulation of remembrance. In 2008, this exploration won Noel first place out of 271 submissions at the First National Graphic Arts Biennial Shinzaburo Takeda celebrated in Oaxaca, Mexico. His work now forms part of the Self Help Graphics, El Nopal Press on Los Angeles CA. Noel Vargas Hernandez has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including at the Couturier Gallery.