Images: Venancio Velasco from “Altista en Oaxaca”
filming & editing: Yoshitomo Nagasaki(PUMPQUAKES)
“Pequeño Oaxaca (Little Oaxaca)”
Artists: Venancio Velasco, Misayo Tsutsui
Friday, February 21 – Saturday, March 8, 2025
Gallery hours: 13:00–19:00
Closed Sundays, Mondays, and holidays
Tuesday and Wednesdays by appointment only (infolag@daishinsha.jp)
Gallery tour (with the artists joining from Oaxaca by video link) : Saturday, March 31, 13:30–15:00
Venue: LAG (LIVE ART GALLERY)
Daiwa Jingumae Bldg. 1F, 2-4-11 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001
LAG is delighted to present “Pequeño Oaxaca (Little Oaxaca)”, an exhibition of work by printmakers and Oaxaca residents Venancio Velasco and Misayo Tsutsui that draws inspiration from the natural features of this state in Mexico’s southeast and its eponymous capital.
The exhibition will include documentary footage of Velasco and Tsutsui making prints in Oaxaca, and essays on art practice in the region, courtesy of the PUMPQUAKES collective, close associates of the pair. A gallery tour will also be run, with Velasco and Tsutsui joining from Oaxaca by video link, offering visitors added insight into the artists and their creations.
Organizer: Chinatsu Shimizu (PUMPQUAKES)
PROFILE
Venancio Velasco (printmaker)
Velasco was born in the Zapotec village of San Pablo Yaganiza in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. He graduated in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree and instructor’s qualification from the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca. After launching the Gabinete Grafico gallery and studio in 2011 with five others, he was subsequently affiliated with La Chicharra (2014) and Burro Press (2016) before establishing his own studio Mecapalprint, in 2017. Velasco has participated in numerous exhibitions in Mexico and beyond, and also runs print workshops.
Misayo Tsutsui (printmaker)
Tsutsui was first inspired to travel to Mexico in 1999 after viewing an exhibition of contemporary Mexican prints at The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama in 1998. Following seven years in France soon after, in 2007 she enrolled at the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca, where she studied under Shinzaburo Takeda. Working as administrator for the “Shinzaburo Takeda” Biennial of Printmaking from 2007 to 2023 gave her wide-ranging exposure to Mexican printmaking. Since 2014 Tsutsui has worked at the university’s gallery. From 2016 to 2024 she was part of the Burro Press print collective. In 2024 she staged her first solo exhibition at the Alacrán gallery affiliated with the Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca.
PUMPQUAKES
Group of independent individuals based mainly in Japan’s Miyagi Prefecture who occasionally collaborate on art production, editing, and curation in the course of their journeys in learning and artistic expression.
［Web］ https://pumpquakes.info/
Gallery tour
(with the artists joining from Oaxaca by video link)
Date: Saturday, March 31, 13:30 – 15:00
Venue: LAG（LIVE ART GALLERY）
Fee: ¥500.- (With one drink)
Reserve: Reservation not required