Meet Fred Whitehead

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Fred Whitehead. Fred was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Mauricio Zuniga.

Fred, can you walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I first encountered Mauricio and his art decades ago at an exhibit at a local community college. Recently I saw his new artwork on Facebook, and reconnected, acquiring three paintings. La Cosecha (“Harvest”) impressed me for the vivid quality of the colors, the lush fruit of the watermelon, and the radiant face of the Sun illuminating and warming the entire scene. While Mauricio’s art is generally abstract, the colors are brilliant and I love how faces tend to emerge. Then I acquired another painting called Merriment, which features Mexican wrestlers with typical masks. A third painting, Soledad (“Solitude”) is large in dimensions, with intense yellow colors dominent–and again, that enigmatic inverted face of a Sun person! The curving ‘stems” of plant-like creatures support the organic themes.
In sum, Mauricio Zuniga fascinates me for his unusual, even unique visions, abstract yet imbued with colorful life.

Let’s talk about your work and career – what else should we know?
My background is a scholar in the humanities; I did a doctoral dissertation on William Blake, and hence my abiding interest in and fascination for visionary art. My recent spree of collecting is, I think, a response to the general ugliness and banality of American culture; art is my hope and refuge.

Mauricio Zuniga has been a great friend to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Mauricio and your experience with them.
It has been a great pleasure to know and work with Mauricio. He is friendly and genial, and devotes much of his time and energies to supporting other artists across the country and in Mexico.