Creative cardboard constructions come to Coutts

Cardboard…used to create textured landscapes, still-life vignettes, portraits and other dramatic scenes. 

Jessie Montes sees art where most people see an empty box, but that is what this man uses to create his distinctive, unique art.

“Box Art . . . Creative Cardboard Constructions by Jessie Montes” opens at the Coutts Museum of Art, 110 N. Main St., Friday.  Friday evening, the public is invited to a special reception from 6 to 8. Duane West, agent for Jessie Montes, will present an art talk about the artist and his work at 7.
Montes, the creator of this unique art, is one of 25 children, and the sole survivor of five sets of twins.

The self-taught artist, who now lives in El Paso, Texas, is a native of Mexico, and has been a naturalized citizen since 1972.
He has worked at a variety of jobs, including custodian at Dodge City High School, until his retirement in 1996 due to emphysema.
In 1990, to free his mind from worry about two of his children being involved in the Gulf War, he began making frames for photographs out of corrugated paperboard, commonly called cardboard.

Then he began to fill in the frames with landscapes, designs and portraits. Three dimensional sculptures came soon thereafter and his artistic career in this unique medium was launched.

Using corrugated boxes as his material, as well as some corrugated bulletin board paper, he cuts 1/4 inch strips on a right angle, at 45 degrees or parallel to the corrugations.

This gives him three interesting textures with which to work as he creates each piece of art. The strips are then glued edgewise onto the surface of the base, also made of cardboard, to form the various pieces of art. A protective coating is placed over the work when it is finished.
Montes’s three dimensional pieces are made totally of “cardboard,” but sometimes have the appearance of wood. They vary from small plaques of unusual designs to free-standing pieces of various dimensions up to six feet tall.

Montes was featured in the December 2000 issue of Art & Antiques Magazine as one of 5 Exciting Modern Artists “who are gaining notice for their instinctive understanding of the expressive power of skillful technique and materials that become magically transformed.”

Raw Vision, a London-based magazine devoted to self-taught artists, contained a four-page article on Montes and his art in the Fall 2004 issue. 

In November 2002, the Beach Art Museum at Kansas State University bought a Montes sculpture for its permanent collection, a first for the artist. The Coutts Museum also has a piece of Montes’s work in its permanent collection. Montes ‘s inspiration comes from his ethnic background, imagination, photos, family and real life experiences, not necessarily in that order.

 He describes his artistic technique as “developing his own picture puzzles.”  He is pleased when people like his work. At one time, Montes averaged more than one piece per month, each work averaging between 45 to 100 hours to create, depending on the size and complexity.

He has spent as much as 1,000 hours on a piece that is detailed. Due to health problems from his emphysema, prostrate cancer and vision problems, he was unable to produce art for 2 1/2 years until a few months ago.

He has since completed a portrait of President Obama, a portrait of his mother and self portraits of himself at age 14 and 26.

A few years ago he created a portrait of a little girl called “Mona.”  Due to her amazing facial features, Montes’s agent feels this work should be dubbed as the “American Mona Lisa.”

Montes’s early desire for his art was to create something from nothing. He chose corrugated paperboard because so much of it was going to waste. Using discarded boxes was his way of recycling a product that otherwise would go into the landfill, adding to our environmental problems.
He loves to see what different and varied themes can be expressed by using cardboard. His dad said “anything worth doing, is worth doing right,” so he tried to be precise in the composition of all the pieces, especially the abstract ones. As he continues to work, he looks for what he hasn’t yet found in this material. It is indeed a unique, creative vision from God.

Those unable to attend the reception are invited to visit the museum during regular hours Monday  through Saturday.  The exhibit will be on display through Dec. 18. It is free and open to the public. For more information, call 321-1212.