Friday 31 October 2014

Memorable Photo Exhibit of Mexican Japanese + Quotes

Held over through Sunday the 2nd...

Diego Rivera House-Museum
Positos No. 47, Guanajuato, Gto.
Tel. y Fax. 01 (473) 73 2 11 97
HORARIOS: Martes a Sábado: 10:00 a 19:00 hrs.
Domingos:10:00 a 15:00 hrs.
ENTRADA: $ 15.00 General, $ 5.00 Estudiantes


I happened to see this while I was reading Pico Iyer's book about his year in Japan. My take as the granddaughter of immigrants: A moving, thought-provoking exhibit enhanced by the excellent photo-portraits.



"We always had the liberty to do what we want but our parents told us,
"Do it well".



Watching over their museum?

Friday 24 October 2014

Cervantino 2014: Exhibits Closing Sunday. Time Left for Rick Bartow

Seeing this, I experienced the fear
unleasshed anger arouses
If you only have time to see one exhibit, I recommend Rick Bartow's Dreams without Frontiers, curated by Oaxaca's Rene Bustamante and mounted along a patio wall beside UG's Cine Club. The artist was to have had a Cervantino exhibit several years ago but had to cancel. This year his work is part of the Cervantino but the exhibit is unlisted in the program book or agenda.I have admired Bartow's work since before I moved to Mexico, fortunately came upon it by chance today.

Rick Bartow identifies with his Yurok roots but I consider him  a "universal,": that is, world class artist. Among the painting titles in this small retrospective are For Fellini,The Dog that Attacks Me, Vietnam, Genet,and Shoki Dancing. 

Because the Guatemalan textile exhibit is outstanding, I'll mention it again. Viewers get a sense of how women and men from the indigenous language groups have woven their identity--you will see one photo that shows it isn't easy in a polarized society. Or if you prefer, just home in on the weaver-enbriuderers' mastery of design and color.

At the Alhondiga I spent most of my time looking at Rodrigo Moya's photos and reading what he said about his long career as a photographer.

While he was working as a videographer, a photographer acquaintance took him into his darkroom. "I was hooked," says Moya. "I was like an aborigine seeing his first machine."

You will see Moya's photos of celebrities outside the Alhondiga and inside his political photos shot in Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba. "From the beginning, I had two cameras," Moya states metaphorically, "one to shoot what I was told to shoot and the other for shooting what I wanted."

In the Alhondiga patio, you can walk among Capelo's Totems and Shamans and if you have time to lighten up, the illustrations upstairs at the Diego Rivera are delightful..I haven't seen the work of Guanajuato's printmakers yet at the Olga Costa.
                                                                                                                                                        








firs

Monday 20 October 2014

Cervantino 2014: Photo Portraits of Women Writers at the Iconografico (MIQ)

In most of her photos, Nesher superimposes words on the body
Iris Nesher, an Italian-born photographer living in Israel, has photographed women writers, poets and playwrights, some Israeli, some from elsewhere. Besides her attention to light, composition and color, words chosen by the each woman make up an integral part of each photo..

Nesher takes a different tack here

.
 Although it doesn't show clearly,
there's a favorite Mexican image, Death, behind this writer.

Saturday 18 October 2014

Cervantino 2014 Graffitti anyone? Guanajuato's Newest, Largest

You'll find the Plaza de Toros near the State Auditorium
Guanajuato's white elephant, the Plaza de Toros, now catches the eye with bursts of color. The project took two months of planning and six days more for Guanajuato artists to fill their 50x30 meter space with a new Quixote. Nuevo Leon artists created the two other panels portraying the spirit of migration..The Cervantino and the city ofo Guanajuato were among a half dozen organizations underwriting the giant graffitti expected to be on view for many years.
The two lead artists explain the project


At the bottom, the artists' names

Wednesday 15 October 2014

Cervantino 2014: Guatemalan Textiles - Design at its Finest

The photos below only hint at the wonder of the textiles on display at the Museo del Pueblo and at least one photo of the women who wear them demonstrate that maintaining ethnic identity this way isn't easy. Sorry, folks, Blogger isn't letting me line up the photos the way I would like.