Rare Sergio Bustamante "Kasper" Marionette

Rare Sergio Bustamante "Kasper" Marionette. Measures approx. - Figure - 24 1/2" high x 10 1/2" wide, total height - 47" high. Original owner paid $3,500 in 1999. No visible signature. This piece was purchased from Sergio Bustamante, has original Sergio Bustamante receipt. Sergio Bustamante is a Mexican artist and sculptor best known for his colorful surrealist papier-mache, bronze, and mixed media sculptures. A world traveler, Bustamente has lived in Amsterdam, Mexico, and the United States. His art is inspired by his favorite science fiction writing from his childhood as well as the art of his native Mexico. After years abroad, Sergio Bustamante established a formal workshop to teach and promote art in Tlaquepaque, Mexico in 1975. It is still operational today. Many of Bustamante's sculptures are built to be interactive. His piece, In Search of Reason (date not given), is 60 feet high, with a ladder that visitors are encouraged to climb. He also has art installed at the Guadalajara Zoo, the fountains of Puerto Vallarta, and other culturally significant spaces in Mexico. He is currently represented by the Meyer Gallery East, based out of Sante Fe, New Mexico. Sergio Bustamante makes surreal, sculptures in a variety of mediums. Playful and dream-like, there are a number of recurring characters that Bustamante returns to again and again: humans with fish heads, the man in the moon, women shrouded in large dresses. If the word dream comes up again and again, it is only because this is the best way to understand his art. Overwhelmingly, Bustamante’s work feels like a child at play -- searching some inner-depth, but with the whimsical nature of a sunny afternoon infused into every piece. Sergio Bustamante was born in a small town in Mexico to vegetable farmers in the late 1940s. The young artist’s imagination was sparked daily by the folk art that surrounded him, but also by the amazing art history of Mexico, by the writings of Jules Verne and the arid landscape of Northern Mexico. He enrolled at the University of Guadalajara, fully intending to become an architect, but when those jobs didn’t materialize, he moved on to a career as a full-time artist. Bustamante moved to Amsterdam in the early 1970s, to learn about painting and design. It was this experience that Bustamante credit’s for much of his success. He returned to Mexico in 1975 to open his workshop and studio in Tlaquepaque.