Temo from Oaxaca makes dragons. But its a bit more complicated – we take a look at dragons in art, and at “alebrijes” – the crazy fantasy wood figures made in the Oaxacan town from which Temo comes since the late 1930´s.
Turns out from a bit of research that dragons & weird animals are all over the place and time in art. What is funny is that many tourists and collectors see the “alebrijes” – in quotes because it was an invented word by this guy Pedro Linares round about 1936 – see these wooden beautiful weird creatures as somehow indigenous and ancient. Their current popularity actually dates to the 20th centurn Mexican interest in French surrealism – Linares observed this obsession in Mexico City, and went back to his pueblo and said – “hey guys, we can make a buck making these wooden fantasy animals” … and he was correct. Temo grew up making alebrijes and knowing as little about their history as most US citizens know about the 1920´s-30´s in their country.
He´s an autodidact, he doesn´t even sketch before he draws or sculpts, and he´s got zillions of dragons for you all to enjoy and please contact him if you want one! https://www.facebook.com/temo.dragon?fref=tsFB