Alejando Rangel Hidalgo

Artist and story-teller

 

This book of great visual elegance is  multiform and unique.  Primarily, it is a biography of  Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo, an artist whose many talents include drawing, painting, graphic design and set design who was also a master craftsman and proved to be an inspiration for architectural creations.   His style, characterized by basic geometries and exquisite colors,  a synthesis of Mexican iconography, already has earned a name of its own:   rangeliano, a synonym of what is sublime, innocent, beautiful, but, above all, very much ours, belonging to our homeland.

Rangel mastered both easel and mural painting.  His contributions as an illustrator can be found in dozens of books and magazines published in Mexico, Spain and the United States.   His defining creation: a new form art focusing on children.  His more than  250 Christmas cards were an international success, highly appreciated by UNICEF  and breaking global sales records with more than  8 million cards sold to benefit children all over the world.

At the same time, Rangel is a fascinating character, the last to depict a Mexico which was at once aristocratic and provincial, tropical and cosmopolitan.  This book also provides an analysis of his work, one of the most expressive and  magical in Mexican art.   Finally, the artist recounts his anecdotes, which make for a rich narrative work,  captured in print for the first time.  Guillermo García Oropeza works a miraculous creation by uniting biography, critique and an anecdotal account with a surprisingly lively style.   This book is a must for anyone who has an interest in Mexico and its art.