Helioflores is an intelligent, lucid cartoonist with a fertile imagination and a deep sense of ethics. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest Mexican cartoonists of all time. Born in 1938 in Xalapa, Veracruz, he studied architecture at the Universidad Veracruzana and graphic design at the School of Visual Arts in New York. In 1968 he co-founded the humour magazine La Garrapata with Eduardo del Río (Rius), Rogelio Naranjo and Emilio Abdalá (AB) and worked on Novedades, El Mitote Ilustrado, Siempre!, Ovaciones and ¿Por qué? Desde 1971 he has worked as a graphics editor for the newspaper El Universal and sporadically for El Chamuco.
Helio is the most awarded Mexican cartoonist: he has won the National Journalism Prize four times and has been awarded prizes in international competitions in Canada, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Cuba and Yugoslavia. In 2017 he received the Gabriel Vargas Cartoon Prize from the Government of Mexico City and the Museo del Estanquillo. -Rafael Barajas (El Fisgón)
Alias offers the public a journey through more than five decades of work by one of the main heirs of Mexican political cartooning, through a selection of 256 cartoons by the master Helioflores, created between 1968 and 2022. With a preface by Pedro Miguel and an interview by Gerardo Lammers, this edition is a loving tribute to an indispensable Mexican cartoonist. We are grateful for the generous support of the Instituto Veracruzano de la Cultura (ivec) and the Museo de Estanquillo for the realisation of this project.
– “On a journalistic level, perhaps the most remarkable aspect of his work is his critical spirit and profound knowledge of Mexican society. I can’t remember a single drawing of his that didn’t hit the mark, and his images often have a prophetic character”.
