Born
in Nueva Rosita, Coahuila on May 12th 1934. Cantú studied
painting at the taller de Artes Plásticas of the Universidad
de Nuevo León and later at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura
y Escultura La Esmeralda in Mexico City.
With the help of a scholarship, he went to Prague to continue
studying. He spent 4 years living here and in Paris while also
traveling throughout Europe. Upon his return to Monterrey Mexico
he started working as professor of the same university he graduated
from a few years before. In 1964, Gerardo Cantú moved
to Mexico City to work with Luis Covarrubias at the Museo de
Antropología e Historia and the Museo de la Ciudad de
México with other great masters like Rufino Tamayo, Jorge
Gonzalez Camarena, Jose Chavez Morado, Alfredo Zalce, Leonora
Carrington, Mathias Goeritz and Raul Anguiano.
During
1979 and 1980 he held a position as a professor at La Esmeralda
and in 1985 he moved back to Monterrey where a year later he
was named Director of Fine Arts at the Instituto de Cultura
de Nuevo León. In 1987 he was appointed as director of
the Taller de Experimentación Plastica del ICNL. His
work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in Mexico
and abroad. Today, he spends his time between his homes in Monterrey
and Mexico City.
