I come from a family of artists, most of them sculptors. The first Castaneda artist emigrated from Spain to Mexico in the 19th century; working in gilded wood, he was a sculptor of religious figures of the Baroque school. He passed his skills on to his son, Felix Castaneda, who taught his son, my grandfather, Crescenciano Castaneda. In 1958, Crescenciano's son, Felipe Castaneda (my uncle) enrolled at Academia de Artes la Esmeralda (where Frida Kahlo taught until her death in 1954) and studied with the renowned sculptor, Francisco Zuniga, as well as other influential artists of La Escuela Mexicana de Arte. Felipe's younger brother, Ignacio (my father) enrolled in the same school in 1960, and later joined Felipe's workshop in Mexico City. Ignacio and Felipe's younger brother, Victor Hugo, enrolled at La Esmeralda in 1967 and joined his brothers in the family tradition.
I was born in Mexico City in 1968.
History
