TEHRAN -- An exhibition of works by Mexican sculptor Ernesto Alvarez is currently underway at the Hafez Art and Cultural Center in Shiraz, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported on Tuesday.

Entitled “Signs”, the exhibition has been organized by the Mexican Embassy in Tehran and the Fars Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department.

The 50-year-old Alvarez is known for creating a wide range of forms in painting and sculpture. His exquisite steel figures are distinguished with their chromatic touches.

Mexican Ambassador Luis Ortiz Monasterio said he was honored to be able to organize the event in Iran.

At the opening ceremony, he promised to hold future Mexican exhibitions primarily in Shiraz rather than other Iranian cities.

He noted that Shiraz is the Iranian cultural capital and gave rise to many poets.

Monasterio said that it’s not easy to hold such exhibitions in Iran, since Iranians are the heirs to the art and culture of the Achaemenid and Sassanid eras.

However, Iranian art and culture of the past has reflections in the present, and the best proof of this is in the works of the young Iranian sculptors who shined at the 4th Tehran Contemporary Sculpture Biennial, he added.

Monasterio believes that the antiquity of the art and culture of Iran and Mexico have given rise to the cultural interaction and attraction between the two countries.

Ernesto Alvarezhas exhibited his works in over 100 solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Argentina.