Seher One and the new Mexican muralism

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Seher One’s work explores color and surrealism

From the capital of the country emerges the work of Seher One, a muralist and graphic designer, whose curiosity for visual culture goes way back to his childhood.

Motivated to learn more about urban art, the artist studied Design and Visual Communication at the School of Visual Arts at the UNAM. It was there he channeled his creativity to illustration.

Furthermore, the context is important, it was the boom of the sticker and illegal graffiti era in Iztapalapa, the neighborhood he grew up in. At the age of 16 he began painting the neighborhood walls, and today, he is one of the main representatives of Mexican street art.

A quirky detail is that he always wanted to study Industrial Engineering. However, motivated by a high school teacher, Seher eventually decided to dig into the world of art. The path that led him to exploit his skills as a muralist.

Mexican cosmogony is part of the artist’s work

In terms of the artist’s style and technique, colors are essential to his murals. He also combines geometry and organic shapes to create somewhat surreal worlds. In fact, his work is inspired by artists like Guillermo González Camarena.

His pieces are filled with topics related to life and death, nature and organic creatures, as well as the iconography and cosmogony of Mexican culture.

These elements can be seen in pieces such as Mexico: The Rebirth of Culture and Society painted in the Comptroller’s Office in Mexico City. This mural was inspired by the September 19, 2017 earthquake. In it, we can see elements such as the eagle, a Quetzalcoatl, the cactus, among others that are intertwined with graphic elements.

As a representative of the new Mexican muralism, Seher explained in the book Muros Somos that “for it to be muralism, it must fulfill a specific purpose and make its own communication cycle, where the viewer passes, looks at it and understands it without the need for the artist to explain what the piece is about.”

Check out more of the artist’s work on his official Instagram.

This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)