Just a few kilometers off Valle de Guadalupe, atop the inconspicuous hills of a little town called El Tigre, lies an art sanctuary filled with fauns, sharks, and an army of Zapatas. Without a doubt, this creative center is Héctor Herrera’s most important work of art.
Barking dogs warn their owner of the arrival of strangers. Nothing to worry about, though, as you soon find out they’re just being playful, and their bark is worse than their bite. From the hilltop, views of the countryside and the Pacific Ocean materialize. There is no other place like this. It seems clear that these four-legged friends aren’t the only ones running wild in the artist’s home; ideas and dreams are too.
Héctor Herrera’s mindset must resemble his headquarters, a space without fences where you can breathe water just the same as oxygen, where sharks fly above the living room, and human bodies float on oceans of ink.
Herrera studied at the famous San Carlos Academy in Mexico City, and from there, residencies, workshops, and classes took him to different parts of the world. He finally settled in Ensenada, where he has lived for 15 years.
When he first came here, he did not go unnoticed. His first public exhibition was an army of Zapata busts which he placed in every abandoned hole he found on the city sidewalks as a form of protest. Since he would fix the hole, nobody complained about the sudden and mysterious apparitions. Shortly after, people got used to the street art and even began their own artistic interventions, modifying them with graffiti or whatever occurrence came to mind. This project lasted for a while, until Herrera started his next movement, which was a complete shock.
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