Ajijic artist Javier Zaragoza has been designated Chapala Senior Citizen of the Year by the municipality’s Family Development Agency (DIF).
The recognition was presented by DIF President Elizabeth Guzmán Pérez and her spouse, Chapala Mayor Javier Degollado, at a ceremony held Friday, August 26 at the Centro Cultural Antigua Presidencia.
Zaragoza is also the recent recipient of a medal of honor awarded by the state for outstanding lifetime achievement in the field of art and culture.
Born in Ajijic in March 1944, Zaragoza created his first drawings and paintings at the age of seven at the village Biblioteca (library) founded by Neill James. She became his patron, sponsoring his formal art training as a teenager at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende.
Zaragoza was only 16 when the parish priest in Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos commissioned him to paint a series of murals inside the Santiago church. Two years later he relocated to Los Angeles, California, continuing his art studies at the L.A. Trade & Technology College and the Pasadena Art Center. He was soon hired by Gannet Outdoor Co., an outfit specializing in billboard advertisements. He later worked for Warner Brothers painting backdrops for motion picture sets.
In 1999, Zaragoza returned to Ajijic where he continues to thrive as an artist. He opened his own studio and gallery, currently located at Constitución 50. Giving back for the support he received in his youth, he also volunteers as an instructor for the Lake Chapala Society Children’s Art Program.
Zaragoza’s oil paintings stand out for his mastery of realism, dramatic lighting, rich color and the meticulous details in portraits of local people he chooses as models. He is also noted for his murals depicting local history, including those on Chapala’s Avenida Hidalgo, the southern façade of the Ajijic Delegación office and the archways outside Ixtlahuacan city hall.