Everybody loves animation. From the early cave paintings to the modern graphic novel to Pixar, the beauty and simplicity of this form of storytelling has a universal appeal to young and old alike. A new exhibition of illustration and caricature at CECUT in the foyer of the IMAX dome showcases revered local Tijuana artist Carlos Buelna, and will be sure to please.

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The Tijuana animation community sponsoring the exhibition, called the SAS--the Salón de Arte Secuencial (Group of Animation and Graphic Art)--will celebrate it's 30th anniversary in 2015, making it the oldest community of humor and animation in the country. Currently under the direction of Luis Enciso (Curry) and Jorge Valdivia, the group started an animation film festival two years ago. According to Enciso, so far the group has had six feature films using different techniques of stop motion, computer animation and hand drawing, and 60 short animations from UABC (Autonomous University of Baja California).

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Arte secuencial, or the art of caricature and graphic storytelling, has a long history, going back to 16th-century early printed books in Europe and in the Americas. In fact, one of the earliest graphic narratives in history was published in 1615 by the Peruvian Quechua nobleman Guamán Poma de Ayala.

In Mexico, the political printmaker and engraver José Guadalupe Posada, actively engaged in political satire during the regime of Porfirio Diaz (1876-1910), and he set the standard for Mexican graphic arts and satire.

But the vibrant tradition of Mexican superhero comics--featuring masked wrestlers who fight the bad guys when they are not competing in the Lucha Libre ring--is perhaps the most important contemporary influences of this group of artists. Hundreds of superhero characters like the Blue Demon, Santo, Huracán Ramirez, La Mujer Murcielago, Mil Mascaras and Tinieblas thrilled and inspired Mexican readers beginning in the 1930s.

In this exhibit, the aesthetic and narrative influences of this tradition are clear in the figures of José Carlos Buelna.

For more information about the SAS and caricature in Tijuana, see Luis Enciso's blog Curry

Exhibition will be on view in the foyer of the IMAX Dome through Sunday, January 25. Admission free of charge.

jill.holslin@sandiegored.com