"Quinientos Años Cristobal Colón" (500 Years Christopher
Columbus), Gullermo Castaño, 1999. Behind the artist's monument is the spherical
building of the Tijuana Cultural Center, Mexico. Photographs: Guillermo Castaño
R.
The sculptor Guillermo Castaño Ramírez was born in
1938 in Mexico City. His father, Guillermo Castaño Alvarado was also an artist
who completed his art studies in Mexico City as well as in the USA, where he
studied with Cottini, Mestrovic and Baker. He was awarded the "Oro Verde"
(Green Gold prize), for his work as a sculptor and ceramist. Castaño Alvarado
was an art professor in several universities in Mexico.
Guillermo
Castaño Ramírez casts his own sculptures in bronze, using the 'lost wax' process
and creates his own patinas in his studio located in La Presa area, near
Tijuana, Mexico. He also produces sculptures in ceramics.
Castaño
attended the "Academia de San Carlos" (Fine Arts Academy in Mexico City). From
1962 through 1965, Guillermo was an art professor at the Universidad
Iberoamericana, a prestigious university in Mexico City. From 1966 until 1980,
he taught art in middle school at the Secretariat of Education and in high
school at the "Escuela Nacional Preparatoria" of the Autonomous National
University of Mexico (UNAM).
A few of Castaño's numerous awards are
Second Prize in the Biennal of Latin American Sculpture in Washington D.C.,
Frankhoma Award of Sculpture, Oklahoma, and first prize, Silver Award of Best
Educational.
The artist is a member of the International Sculpture
Center, belongs to the board of directors of Artist & Sculpture Bronzes Inc.
in Los Angeles California and is the artistic director of "Bronces Artisticos"
in Tijuana, Mexico.
Castaño's works have been displayed in 45 collective
exhibits (1957-1991), and 17 individual exhibits (1965-1991). Some exhibits took
place in the World Trade Center in Dallas, Texas, the World's Fair, in New York
and San Antonio, in the USA, and the "Galería Mer-Kup" in Mexico
City.
One of Guillermo's sculptures is located at the Art Museum of
Washington. Between 1963 and 2001, Guillermo has produced forty-nine public
monuments in Mexico and the United States. He is the author of several monuments
in bronze in the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas, dedicated to
Walter Brennam, Joel Mc Crea, Adolfo Camarillo, "San Diego de Alcalá", The Last
Supper, just to mention a few. His largest monuments are 500 Years Cristopher
Columbus in Tijuana, and Monument to the Mayan Culture in Tuxtla Gutiérrez,
Mexico.
The artist and his works are referred to in the "Diccionario de
Escultura Mexicana del Siglo XX", an art dictionary published by the Autonomous
National University of Mexico (UNAM), among other publications.