Biography
Edgar Sotelo is a fourth-generation artist from Durango, Mexico. He came to the United States to attend Texas Tech University, graduating in 1988. During his college years, he helped pay for school by selling his early pencil drawings.
Encouraged by his wife, Michelle, Edgar transitioned to oil painting in the early 1990s. His subjects reflect a longstanding connection to ranch life, working horses, cowboys, charros, and the visual histories linking Mexico and the American West.
Edgar and Michelle live in Sulphur Springs, Texas, where they raise American Quarter Horses. His research includes attending charreadas and visiting ranches, experiences that inform his observation of working traditions and daily life.
Artist statement
I am drawn to the histories carried through ordinary work: a traveler moving along an old route, a ranch hand tending livestock, an animal at rest, or a quiet exchange shaped by place. Through representational painting, I explore the human character of El Camino Real, rural and historic Mexico, the American Southwest, and the Southern Plains.
My aim is to approach these subjects with respect, careful observation, and strong traditional composition—allowing the people, animals, landscape, light, and material culture of each scene to carry the story.
Primary subjects
- El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
- Rural and historic Mexico
- The American Southwest
- Western working life
- Comancheros and the Southern Plains
- Travel, trade, people, and animals