Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - This Friday, March 23rd, the streets of Puerto Vallarta's Zona Romantica will be bustling with activity from 6 to 10 pm, as locals and tourists alike head out to do the Southside Shuffle, a two block party on Basilio Badillo and Constitución.

The South Side Shuffle offers a mix of culture, cocktails and music that gives everyone a chance to hang out with old friends and meet new ones - and the perfect excuse to shop for clothing, jewelry, art, and home decor items at all of the participating businesses.

One of the most important events happening will be Galleria Dante's last 'Meet the Artists' show of this season. The show will feature 6 Latin American artists including three artists from Guadalajara who have united to form "Andante" "Arte Nuestro Dante."

Oscar Zamarripa, Guillermo Gomez and Israel Zzepda, who represent three generations of artists, have collectively exhibited in Vallarta for more than 79 years, and all of them have public monuments throughout Mexico. The name "Andante" refers to us moving forward, with three museum quality artists, from Jalisco, who are always evolving.

Oscar Zamarripa, who celebrates 44 years as a professional artist, was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. Over the years, we have seen his works in bronze, metal, stainless steel, wood, granite, alabaster, onyx, petrified wood, semi-precious stones, ceramic, bowling balls, found objects, and most recently stained glass.

He is also a master of the ancient technique of estofado, which involves a special paint finish over silver & gold lead that has been applied to finely chiseled wood. This technique has been used within the Catholic church for centuries.

Oscar always personalizes his "one of a kind", two-sided sculptures with his unique style of "magic realism".

To know Oscar is to love him. He is enthusiastic and continually experimenting with new materials & techniques, creating anything from fountains to wall reliefs.

Each of his works holds a memory of his past, so when you own a sculpture by Oscar, you own a piece of his heart. "For me it is very important not to forget my childhood experiences, so I have recorded them into my sculptures. They are stories that I would like to share with others."

Guillermo Gomez, who celebrates 25 years as a professional artist comments, "Although I live in Guadalajara, it's in Puerto Vallarta that I really feel alive."

Gomez was born in Guadalajara in 1959. His participation in collective shows, local art festivals, as well as single shows have won him prizes and recognition all over. He has also been awarded the commission of monuments in Mexico and other countries.

Gómez honors the ability to navigate in life despite hardships or happenstance. If there is a secret to his work, it's that he allows himself to laugh. With his sensitive use of bronze, "the most malleable of materials," he speaks without words.

"When you are fortunate to get the attention of the public, what you say becomes important. You obtain a certain responsibility and your work becomes a testimony to that community." His sculptures are painstakingly created, no corners cut, perfection is something Guillermo strives for every day and it is so reflected in his sculptures.

Aside from his many monuments, including "Old Man & the Sea" in La Paz, he has sculptures in the Whitehouse, and the Vatican. Guillermo's works are considered treasures of Mexico.

Israel Zzepda, who celebrates 25 years as a professional artist, was born in Guadalajara in 1971. The general public is constantly amazed at the huge body of work he has produced for a man so young. In recent years his artistic energy has expanded to include sculpture in paper mache, bronze, and cast aluminum.

He became an apprentice at the age of 15 and a full time art teacher at the age of 19 and, being so young himself, Zzepda has influenced many even younger artists.

He completed 6 murals in Sardinia, Italy in 2011. There is a sensitivity, innocence, and a refined discipline about this young man. His work penetrates into the religious, spiritual, sexual, and existential realms; reflecting over the truth, and questioning established thinking. He is not afraid to express himself.

"The artist is a reflection of daily life. I want to be a chronicle of my time," says Zzepda. He seeks to be honest and reflect his own unique style in all of his work.

"Texture also plays an important role in the idealized handling of the human figure. We are all good and bad, we construct and we destroy, we are of light and somewhat dark, journeying daily through the streets of the planet."

His imaginative capacity, is perhaps, the most dominant visual feature of his work.

Oscar Capeche, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1944, has resided in Chile since 1990 with his wife Cuca and their children."

Since 1972 he has exhibited his art in galleries all over Mexico and South America. "My collection of personages are taken from my own experiences, but many are taken from the rich quarry provided by history.

"I paint these works, transformations and deformations, that surge in me naturally, spontaneously, and inevitably. My treatment of the images in my paintings is done with the greatest possible freedom," states Capeche.

"I am irreverent and bold with the sacred icons of art history. I am also irreverent and comical with myself and in my self-portraits. I feel that all these liberties that I take help to make my paintings all that I want, without compromising quality."

His paintings offer a critical and ironic vision of certain human attitudes. He also intends to capture the synthesis of these situations by using loose brush strokes and gestures. Oscar once told people that he had to paint to live at one time, but now he paints what he loves and lives to paint.

"I am fascinated by observing the real world," says Capeche. "There are things I cannot let pass. Certain gestures, attitudes, and methods used by certain facets of society that one way or another seemed funny to me. I take those figures and disarm them, then I rearm them. Poor them, much worse than they really are. What I propose is that we look at those characters with a sense of humor. I am often ironic with myself, my most severe critic."

Jorge Costes is a Mexican sculptor born in Cordoba, Veracruz in 1959 and has a degree in hydrobiology by UAM-I. He later took classes in sculpture and ceramic in the art studios of IMSS and currently holds a diploma of plastic arts from the Helenic cultural center.

His work was exhibited for the first time in 1983, and since then he has participated in 18 individual exhibits and 53 collective exhibits. His work has been acquired by collectors in the US, Canada, France, Spain, Israel, Japan, and of course Mexico.

He tries to express in his work a positive message that invites the spectator to reflect on all the good things that exist in the world, that we sometimes forget to enjoy. The majority of his work is created in Bronze, but he also uses clay, concrete, fiber glass, wood, and different types of resins. In some works he combines various materials like crystal, marble, and bronze together to interpret a single idea.

In general, Jorge Coste expresses himself through four basic lines of work; Marine fauna, Horses and bulls, human figure in motion, and stylized and minimalist figures. His work is currently exhibited in 10 galleries around Mexico and one in the United States.

Nicolas "Nick" Gomez was born in 1969 in Guadalajara and is a self-taught artist who started painting late in life, at the age of 27. He later studied under master painter, Hilario Alvarez, portrait painter, who guided Nicolas to strive for perfection, something obvious in his detailed paintings.

He painted exclusively for more than 4 years for the Riu Hotel chain of Mexico, creating works for the lobbies as well as their many hotel rooms. Nickh has also painted more than 50 murals, most for the Italiannis restaurant chain of Mexico.

He has owned his own studio for more than 20 years, where his daughter Cindy is now his top protégé, assisting him on many of his larger projects.

There is nothing he can't paint, as is evident in his body of works. From still life's of mandarins, squash, and other fruits and vegetables, to a stampede of horses that come alive on the canvas. From a portrait of a beautiful little girl or old lady, to a landscape or an old building. Nick is in collections in the USA, Canada, and South America, as well as many homes and hotels in Mexico.

Don't miss Galleria Dante's last art show of the 2011-2012 season and the work of these amazing artists. A cocktail reception will open the exhibit at 6:00 pm and you can chat with the artists until 10:00 pm.

Galleria Dante will remain open our regular hours, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday, until May 31st. Summer Hours by Appointment.

Open Mon-Fri from 10 am-5 pm, Galeria Dante is located at Basilio Badillo #269 in Puerto Vallarta's Romantic Zone. For more information, call (322) 222-2477, or send an email to info(at)galleriadante.com.

Click HERE to learn more about Galleria Dante.