bio by Sarah Anne Kulla

David Manzanares De la Fuente was born in the colonial city of Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico, in 1985. The firstborn son to a pair of Mexican psychologists, he spent the early part of his life playfully hunting toads in the jungles of Oaxaca. He is half Chinanteco Indian.

After attending high school in Salamanca, Guanajuato, he moved to the Federal District to study Economy at the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM). There, he fatefully he accepted an internship with an Art professor on the side, and discovered his true passion: Sculpture.

In the years that followed, he has gained experience in using a wide variety of materials including clay, paper mache, wood, bronze, wax, and stone. He loves to create human figures especially, and has dedicated himself to the study of Anatomy to exact the proportion and scale of his works. Faces and hands are of special interest to him; within a matter of minutes he can turn a ball of plasticine into a detailed and vital form.

In the past year, David has interned with a professor from the Universidad de Guanajuato in a Cathedral to restore the life size figures of various saints and religious relics, worn down by over 200 years of adoration. Materials employed in this restoration project have been varied and ancient, including a glues made from cheese or ground rabbits skin and bones (cola de conejo).

Currently, David attends the Universidad Autonomo de Queretaro, where he specializes in Plastic Arts. His latest project involves an investigation of polyester resin, and he is working on perfecting the form of a pig. He can be contacted at dappleorchards@gmail.com .

Photos of the artist and his shell collection by SK