La Sardiina Gallery and Circle South Gallery are proud to present works by artist Carlos Torres Cazares and Sergio Sanchez Santamaria.

About the Artists .
Carlos Torres Cazares was born and raised in Ivanhoe, California. He began his interest in printmaking at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California, with a focus in lithography. He completed his BFA in Printmaking at the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri. In 2011, he received his MFA in Printmaking at Herron School of Art and Design. Carlos Cazares currently shares his studio with his wife at Cat Head Press Printshop and Artist Cooperative, in Indianapolis, IN.
“I was born in Ivanhoe, California, a predominately Hispanic agricultural community. Living in Ivanhoe seemed like a dead-end at times. Neither of my parents finished high school and my father left us when I was young, leaving my mother to do it all by herself. When she would leave for her thirteen hour days at the factory, I would come home from school and watch horror movies that otherwise would not have been allowed in the house. They became my escape from the rough neighborhood. Instead of fear, they made me feel empowered and inspired. It became an exciting ritual of searching for an old scary movie I had never seen. They were filled with incredible handmade sets, bizarre creatures and detailed masks; I was hooked. As a teenager I began ghost hunting in cemeteries and constructing haunted houses in my mom’s backyard for the kids in the neighborhood to experience. At an early age, I had already begun making my own monsters.
An obsessive and absorbing stage began to take place, which furthered into my adulthood. The creations I produce are direct extensions of personal memories intermixed with specific interests in sub-cultures. I reference traditional tattoo imagery, Historical printmaking techniques, Mexican-American heritage, Heavy metal music, Pagan symbolism and 1970’s and 1980’s horror films. I primarily use printmaking to create my own creatures and horror characters, while at times switching to paint on canvas and 3D sculpting as well. I grew up having strange ideas about the world due to my unique and oddball childhood which ultimately fueled my need to reach back to my nostalgic love for horror and constantly surround myself with it.”

Sergio Sanchez Santamaria was born in Tlayacapan, Morelos, Mexico in 1976. He received his Fine Arts degree from the National School of Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving in and the Esmeralda National Arts Centre in Mexico City. As an artist, he works primarily in the field of relief printmaking, and is one of the most renowned teachers of this medium. Santamaria is especially known for his exquisite bookplates.

Sergio Santamaria has traveled to several countries and exhibited throughout the world. He has received awards in Mexico, Belgium and Sweden and has lived in various cities in the US, Europe and Russia.

Santamaria has had individual exhibitions in different venues, such as the Lake Gallery (Casa del Lago), the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico. DF, at the Iztapalapa Art Gallery, the Metropolitan Autonomous University, Mexico City, the Art Gallery of the Sawyer Fine Arts Center, Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire, the United States Ministries Artist, and his most recent exhibitions one in Mexico at the Festival Noches Blancas and at “Viva México” in the city of Perm, Russia.

In addition, he has participated in collective exhibitions at the 32 Yokosuka Peace Exhibition of Art, The Yokosuka City Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan, at the “III International Katowice Linoleum and Wood Engraving Contest 2002″, Slaska Library in Katowice, Poland, at the III Havirov III Triennial of Ex libris and “Small Format – Erotic” at the Havirov Cultural Center, Czech Republic. He exhibited in “Art and Olympism” at the International Olympic Committee, based in Lausanne, Switzerland and at the “Finalist Works of the Art and Olympics Competition” at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.