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Ximena Montes Rodriguez

Colourful digital illustration of a cute fantasy creature with pink wings, round glasses, blue hair and a long pink tail on a yellow background.

Drawing

Interim Coordinator of Arts of YMCA Calgary · BFA · Class of 2026

www.instagram.com/mangos_fire/

I am a Mexican artist who has lived in Canada for 8 years. My works have the intention of telling a story, touching on queer and fantasy themes as well as the folklore of my country and its traditions.

My art is strongly inspired by surrealism, as well as by Asian and Mexican cultures.
With a focus on creating a fantasy environment, I use brilliant and saturated colors with a palette that contrast between them and also that can help to reinforce the emotion of the piece and, for my works inspired by my culture (Mexican), I often turn to historical accounts, pre-Hispanic codex, legends, tales, and figures in art such as Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington.

In my paintings, I like to combine several techniques. For my series of “The Talavera Girl”, where I explore my personal feelings, stories and trauma, I combined different materials such as watercolours and markers to give a cleaner finish in my strokes and because I wanted to incorporate them as an element that comes out of the painting.

On the other hand, I also do artwork with more of a narrative approach. I usually touch on different themes such as forbidden love, queer themes, or legends of my country, Mexico. I normally use acrylics for these pieces, but I like to give them a finishing touch that makes them look like digital illustrations or add extra materials like aluminum. In these, I give a more detailed approach to my characters.

The Legend of the Warrior Who Lost His Beloved. His sorrow was so immense that he could not bear to be apart from her. With a broken heart, he ascended to the highest peaks, where the earth touches the clouds. There, he pleaded with the gods to grant him the right to guard his beloved’s eternal rest… and so it was. Iztaccíhuatl, the princess who died believing her beloved had fallen in battle, lies asleep, covered in snow. And Popocatépetl, the warrior, watches over her with a heart ablaze, burning with an eternal flame.
The Legend of Mayahuel and Quetzalcóatl Oil pastels, colour pencils, gouache. Quetzalcóatl, the god whose beloved, Mayahuel, was taken from him.
Fixing Myself Kintsugi is a Japanese technique where gold is used to repair broken porcelain and add more value to a previously broken piece and make it look beautiful. I put together all the pieces that have fallen and broken. The small pieces of my heart are the hardest to put together, but not impossible. It is a disastrous process, but in the end, everything can be repaired.
Say it with flowers Materials: Wood board, mirror glass, plasticine. While narrating the legend of a forbidden love that gave rise to vanilla, Xolo, an immortal axolotl, reveals his feelings to the only person he has loved for centuries. Eca, the bird with snake skin, rejects every approach, unaware that she has been condemned by the gods to end his life.

Ximena Montes Rodriguez's Work

Ximena Montes Rodriguez's Work Gouache and pastel artwork by Ximena Montes Rodriguez showing two figures before snowy mountains under a blue night sky.
The Legend of the Warrior Who Lost His Beloved. His sorrow was so immense that he could not bear to be apart from her. With a broken heart, he ascended to the highest peaks, where the earth touches the clouds. There, he pleaded with the gods to grant him the right to guard his beloved’s eternal rest… and so it was. Iztaccíhuatl, the princess who died believing her beloved had fallen in battle, lies asleep, covered in snow. And Popocatépetl, the warrior, watches over her with a heart ablaze, burning with an eternal flame.
Ximena Montes Rodriguez's Work Oil pastel and gouache artwork by Ximena Montes Rodriguez showing two figures beneath a large tree in a blue night landscape.
The Legend of Mayahuel and Quetzalcóatl Oil pastels, colour pencils, gouache.

Quetzalcóatl, the god whose beloved, Mayahuel, was taken from him.
Ximena Montes Rodriguez's Work Mixed media artwork by Ximena Montes Rodriguez showing a blue patterned figure with gold repair marks against a warm yellow background.
Fixing Myself Kintsugi is a Japanese technique where gold is used to repair broken porcelain and add more value to a previously broken piece and make it look beautiful.
I put together all the pieces that have fallen and broken. The small pieces of my heart are the hardest to put together, but not impossible.
It is a disastrous process, but in the end, everything can be repaired.
Ximena Montes Rodriguez's Work Mixed media diptych by Ximena Montes Rodriguez showing two colourful fantasy figures with flowers, stars and mirror-like shapes.
Say it with flowers Materials: Wood board, mirror glass, plasticine.

While narrating the legend of a forbidden love that gave rise to vanilla, Xolo, an immortal axolotl, reveals his feelings to the only person he has loved for centuries. Eca, the bird with snake skin, rejects every approach, unaware that she has been condemned by the gods to end his life.

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