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IGNACIO MONTANO

Lives and works in Chicago, Illinois, USA
www.imontano.com

When Chie Curley received a picture postcard of Ignacio All of the paintings carry the inscription "T.Time," for
Montano's works from the National Museum of Mexican terrestrial time, emphasizing the artist's conviction that
Art, she new she had found her man. men will one day travel in outer space. "We have been on
Curley and Barbara Goldsmith curate the exhibits at the Noyes this earth- this cage-too long", Montano said. "The idea of
Cultural Art Center in Evanston and were looking for an artist being free to go to other worlds excites me."

for the millennium show when the card arrived in the mail.
"So much of his work looks like computer circuitry," said WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED?
Curley. "I'm sure he thinks very much about computers and Montano grew up in a large family in Mexicali on the baja

how they will affect our lives in the future." peninsula. His parents wanted him to be a doctor, and he
As it turns out, circuitry is just one of the elements sparking dutifully attended medical school for three semesters, then
the imagination of the 51-year-old Montano. dropped out to pursue his long-time interest in art.
"From the moment I saw Viking spaceship land on Mars He enrolled at The School of Find Arts at The University of
in 1976, I've never stopped thinking about life beyond Guadalajara, but soon left there, too.

planet earth," said Montano during an interview at the "I objected to their methods and rigid policies," he explained.
Noyes Center, where "Prospective/ Retrospective: The Not only did the drawing teacher insist the students replicate
Art of Ignacio Montano" runs through Jan.15. Two sizable the pots and pans-and only the pots and pans-placed before

sculptures , 22 paintings and three of his drawings, all the class, the style of art was prescribed. "Mexico is known
completed between 1976 and the present, are on view. for its muralists, so they wanted all of us to paint murals,"
The sculptures, fashioned from materials including Montano explained. "Why murals? Painting is painting and
aluminum sheeting, glass, plastic tubing, plastic murals are just one alternative."
components, computer ships, mother boards and solar He withdrew from the University after a few months, but
ARTIST panels, resemble shining space ships poised for take-off. continued to frequent the art school library, educating

The meticulously detailed paintings and drawings depict himself in the history of western art from the Greeks to
colonies in outer space or in distant planets. the present. He found he was particularly drawn to the

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