Octavio Duarte Perez/Gabriela Duarte Diaz/Alexis Duarte/Miguel Ángel Duarte

Octavio Duarte is an accomplished fine art painter and traditional wooden mask maker. Originally from Mexico City, he learned to carve wooden masks from zompantle trees at an early age. Later he studied fine arts at the University of Fine Arts in Oaxaca, Mexico where he currently resides. His painting style is Mexican folkloric with elements of magical realism, sometimes incorrectly labeled as “surreal”. Both his painting and mask-making reflect traditional Mexican spiritual and cultural themes that incorporate the fantastical. He prefers to work in acrylics but also uses oils and sometimes on cotton tela or canvas.

Additionally, he creates erotic work, giving a matter-of-fact expression to a subject that is widely regarded socially as taboo, but is acceptable in artistic forms.

Octavio has mentored his daughter, son, and other family members in becoming skilled painters and mask-makers in their own right. They work together from his home studio.