Whoever comes will be surprised by how beautiful the port is and its wonderful Carnaval, says the Monterrey native.
Javier Zarazúa is originally from Monterrey and for 33 years he has Carnaval de Mazatlán tattooed on his skin and in his heart. Every year on the eve of the great festival he contributes his talent as a sculptor of the monigotes and floats that enhance the great festival.
“I have been working for Carnaval Mazatlán for 33 years, here we are again on this adventure working with the entire Monterrey team, in the construction of the “monigotes” and with the creation of the floats.”
“We had to make 5 monigotes and 7 floats.”
Inspired by the theme of Carnaval Mazatlán 2024 “Baroque Eclipse”, his creative work took direction and focused on the creation of human figures, aimed at a fantastical, surreal baroque.
He affirms that he has known Mazatlán for 33 years – before he traveled from Monterrey, invited by maestro Jorge González Neri and today his son Jorge Gabriel González Rodríguez is part of the work team.
“Maestro Neri is the founder of all this, we continue working for Carnaval and his shadow will always be at our side, he is the founder of this team and we simply follow the legacy,” he expresses with nostalgia.
Regarding his incursion into the creative team of the most emblematic festival of the Mazatlecos, he responds:
“In Monterrey I had an arts degree at the University, I have always loved reading, and I came to work with Professor González Neri 33 years ago and we have always been linked to art, we have known the styles since the Renaissance and “I have really liked working with the great sculptors in Nuevo León.”
Large figures
“With my teachers we’ve worked on large pieces for squares, for urban places there in Monterrey, so I became very familiar with the scales, and when the monigotes were born I was very excited because I brought that school, so now at my age, well, I really enjoy working With the large figures, I love being part of this team that has been working on these projects for years.”
“There are many emotions when we lift each figure and see it, and even more so when it is already finished, painted, decorated and we see it on the boardwalk, well, shut up! I mean, it is a very great satisfaction!
Sculptor Jesús Zarazúa affirms that the premise is that each monigote comes out beautiful.
“They are phenomena that occur, we do not propose them, it is the people, the public that suddenly chooses a figure and says this one! And they begin to relate it as something very personal and we loved that, because we want all the pieces to shine, but the public is the one who is in charge of saying, I like this one!
Zarazúa shares that his entire family works on creating giant sculptures.
“I have nephews, sisters, brothers working for the Carnaval here in Mazatlán and in Monterrey, Nuevo León, in different parts of the country already exporting pieces to different places, it is already to a certain extent a family business and another group of boys from Monterrey and people from Mazatlán too, because we are not limited only to us, people from the region participate in the search for them to learn, because the workshop is a school, and whoever wants to learn is here to be enriched.”
Maestro, last year México Desconocido Magazine awarded Mazatlán the Best of Mexico award for having the Carnaval Festival with the greatest tradition and color. For those who do not know Carnival Mazatlán, what would you say to people so that they come to know it?
“I arrived more than 30 years ago to this city, there was no road to get there, and it was a very personal Carnval…Today you are going to find a great, incredible city, I already have my house here, with that I tell you everything, I fell in love with Mazatlán, now we are seeing how mass tourism is arriving and I think that arriving to this city is wonderful and to that add that it has an incredible Carnaval, people do not need an invitation, they will get to see this wonder that is the Carnaval alone and I I am sure that whoever comes will be surprised by how beautiful the port is and how incredible it is to be at the Carnaval.
