Imaginary Beasts at the Museo del Chopo.....

The Museo Universitario del Chopo has fairly recently been renovated and reopened, and is a wonderful place to visit. Firstly the wrought iron architecture is very interesting and easy on the eye as are the range of exhibitions.....

Currently on display until the 28th August is "Bestiario Imaginario" - the big, bold bronze sculptures of Mexican artist Jose Sacal who was born in Cuernavaca in 1944....

Welcome to his wonderful world of fantasy creatures with larger than life personalities. There are crocodiles on roller skates pushing prams, pigs on long-shanked stilts, and dynamic turkeys on wheels....

Outside the museum you can also see the mad menagerie of giant whales, striking bulls, pecking chickens, and monkeys paying banjos....














Museo del Chopo is very near to the beautiful Colonia Santa Maria La Ribera and can be easily reached by the Metrobus - just a couple of stops from Reforma. Check out what else is happening in the world this week by clicking here for My World Tuesday postings. Enjoy!

Shadow Shot Sunday 109 - Santa Maria La Ribera, DF

Where would you find these lovely green shadows in Mexico City??

Well they are on the walls of just an ordinary city apartment block on Calle Santa Maria La Ribera - but on the way to my favourite square in the whole of the city..........

Tucked away in the heart of the very ordinary working class neighbourhood of La Ribera is this gorgeous gem of a square - complete with Moroccan Pavillion. Last Saturday, as I arrived here, there was a full orchestra inside playing music most sublime - Such serendipity and just another reason to enjoy wandering the streets of Mexico City....

For more shadow shots around the world this week - click here - Enjoy!

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pinatas........

One of my favourite street sights here in Mexico City are the shops which sell pinatas. These particular tiendas are just around the corner from where I live, and depict all the favourites for children's parties. I especially like the speccy Harry Potter contrasted with the rather muscular and robust Spiderman.......

Of course in addition to the cartoon characters, traditional sputnik-style pinatas are sold and flown all year round - but especially in the approach to Christmas. Here are some soaring above the cobbled streets of Taxco, and my school playground....

Each of the seven spikes represents one of the seven deadly sins, so when you have bashed the life out of gluttony, sloth, anger etc, you are rewarded with the shower of sweeties and goodies....

A word of warning, however, to stand well back when the pinata is being bashed for all its worth. A friend of mine spent her first Mexican Christmas in hospital after being rendered unconscious by an-over enthusiastic blind-folded child wielding the stick like a baseball bat!! I also witnessed a young English child, who hadn't quite got the concept of pinatas, absolutely traumatised by the sight of poor Winnie the Pooh's four limbs sailing off in all four compass directions leaving him quadraplegic and a child sobbing on her first birthday - the joy of cultural exchange totally evading her!!

But aren't they vibrant and beautiful? - their bright colours and shapes are an iconic sight on the streets of Mexico City. For more global glimpses around the world today check out the My World Tuesday postings by clicking here. Enjoy!

Roaming the Roma - Cultural Corredor

Every so often the gallery doors in the Roma are flung open for the very popular event "Cultural Corredor" and crowds of art enthusiasts take up the challenge of trying to visit all of the galleries on this one Open Day. Crowds mill the streets, the mood is infectious, the gallery owners hospitable with their offers of cool drinks and refreshments, plus the work on display shows remarkable variety from photography to painting, textiles to sculpture, and fashion to design. The Anonymous gallery (Colima 179A) exhibited work by two Brazilian artists - the naive painter Poteiro shown above contrasted with the more funky Pitasnas shown below.....

The work below at the Traeger Gallery (Colima 179) is by Argentine textile artist Silvina Ibanez whose painted 3d draperies are highly reminiscent of the Old Masters themselves....

Then we have the intriguing plastic sculptures by Nicola Lopez on display at the Arroniz Arte Gallery (Plaza Rio de Janeiro 53)....

The event always includes some very interesting design work, hence the furniture below displayed at C208 (Colima 208)....

A lot of these galleries are private and usually by appointment only, so part of the treat of the Open Day Cultural Corredor is to actually step inside some of these gorgeous colonial mansions and observe all the subtle architectural details, that can usually only be viewed from the outside. What wonderful exteriors and interiors these colonial architectural gems do indeed reveal

From the last few posts, you can see that I am a huge fan of visiting art galleries and appreciating the work of a wide range of talented artists. My favourite here?? Poteiro the Brazilian naive artist is the work I would choose to hang on my own walls - which is your cup of tea?? For more global glimpses this week, check out My World Tuesday by clicking here. Enjoy!

Shadow Shot Sunday 107 - Hector Velazquez

Welcome to the unusual and rather haunting world of local Mexico City artist Hector Velazquez, whose work is currently on display in Colonia Roma at the Terreno Baldio Arte Gallery as part of the Open House Day entitled "Corredor Cultural". He is primarily a textile artist who produces these sculptural floating heads and body parts coming through the wall in tightly bound silk and cotton.....

The effect is both beautiful and disturbing at the same time, but what is most interesting is that the strong patterns of shadows that the faces and hands create are integral to the works of art themselves, due to the specific use of lighting....

I especially like this one of the dress hanging up with its shadow twin faintly discernible on the wall behind....

Here are some of the art enthusiasts out and about in Colonia Roma strolling from one gallery to the next to take in all the exhibitions and make the most of the "Corredor Cultural"on a fine, sunny evening. I hardly ever submit shadow shots of people but I especially liked this particular gentleman and his dapper outfit complete with a leafy pattern of shadows....

For more shadow shots from around the world, click here for Shadow Shot Sunday. Enjoy!

Tribute to Leonora Carrington 1917 - 2011

Leonora Carrington, world renowned Surrealist painter and longterm resident of Colonia Roma, Mexico City, died this week on Wednesday May 25th aged 94 from pneumonia complications in a Mexico City hospital. British-born from Chorley in Lancashire, she studied art at the Chelsea School of Art, but received very little encouragement from her family to pursue an artistic career. She met Max Ernst, Surrealist painter, in 1937 and they travelled together to live in Paris. Life became very difficult after the outbreak of World War 11 with Ernst being arrested twice, and Carrington fleeing to Spain where she was institutionalised by her family in a Madrid asylum following a nervous breakdown. She managed to escape from a nurse, took refuge in the Mexican Embassy, and shortly after arrived in Mexico City where she continued to live and work for the rest of her life apart from a spell in New York in the 1960s. She married in Mexico, had two sons, and became part of a strong artistic community that included other exiled artists such as the Spanish Surrealist Remedios.

She is perhaps best well known for her Surrealist paintings which are most haunting and expressive, but I really like her sculptures many of which adorn the streets here in Mexico City. A real favourite is the crocodile sculpture pictured at the start, which is permanently displayed on Reforma outside the mall Reforma 222. The other sculptures pictured above are from a fairly recent temporary exhibition (2008) also along Reforma, and date from when Carrington was in her eighties - so still robust at this time to produce these wonderful large-scale bronzes. I love the one of the harpist playing the stringless harp which is named something like "The Harmony of Silence". Check out other global posts this week by clicking here for My World Tuesday. Enjoy!!

Shadow Shot Sunday 106 - Mexico City

Where in Mexico City do you find these gorgeous blue walls and their shadowy, leafy patterns??

At the Blue House of course - Frida Kahlo's stunning abode in the Southern barrio of Coyoacan. It was the first place I visited here in the Big Taco...and it will also be one of the last. Walking through the rooms, seeing all her artwork on display and her Mexican kitchen full of traditional ceramic pots, is special enough, but for me it is the garden that draws be back for repeat visits....

It is in the garden where you can really appreciate the vibrancy of the blue, as well as the collection of Prehispanic and Mexican folk art tucked in every niche and corner.....

It was lovely being there last weekend as the house and garden emptied in the late afternoon, and the early evening shadows took over......

For more shadow shots from around the world, visit Shadow Shot Sunday by clicking here. Enjoy!

Azteca Soup!!

As departure date draws ever closer, (only 10 weeks away now ), I am beginning, inevitably to think more and more about what I will miss most about Mexico - oh so many, many things!! (which will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog!!)

On the food front, the main contender is Azteca Soup ( or Tortilla Soup ) first sampled in Patzcuaro, and pictured here at a more recent tasting in the zocalo, Oaxaca. It is a pre-hispanic recipe as far as I am aware, and the ultimate comfort food - full of tasty ingredients such as a rich tomato broth with avocado, tortilla strips, chipotle chile, chicharon, and panela cheese. I must learn how to make it before I leave, Does anyone have a really good recipe??

I am rather partial to guacamole and limonadas too!!

Xochimilco - why stay on land??

It looks like a scene from Tarantino's Lord of the Flies or a ghastly reminder from Swine Flu and Face Mask Days, but in fact this is a welcome to one of the most fascinating markets in Mexico City - namely Xochimilco. Most people flock to this far southern barrio to buy plants at the numerous nurseries or go for boat trips on the extensive network of canals, but it is worth staying on land awhile to browse around these particular market stalls. One of my favourite areas is the dried goods with chillis, frijoles, mole, jamaica leaves and all sorts...

Of course it has all the expected glorious displays of fruit and vegetables...

And tasty dishes cooking in giant ceramic pots....

but it is also the market closest to truly wonderful ones in the city of Oaxaca seven hours away...

So if you do venture all the way south to Xochimilco, don't forget to stop awhile and look at the beautiful church and browse the market stalls here before heading to the embarcaderos for the boat trips...

Check out what is happening in the rest of the world this week by clicking here for My World Tuesday postings. Xochimilco is easily reachable by public transport with the tren ligero from Tasquena, but it is a 90 minute journey from the city centre.

Bloomin" Gorgeous!!

March is still here so it is still time for the blooming of the jacarandas in the city....

Aren't they a truly beautiful sight?? What is putting a spring into your step??

Shadow Shot Sunday 96 - Mexico City

Shadows fall on the latest architectural addition to Mexico City's skyline accentuating the sparkling curves and glittering planes of this striking building...

Want to know what this building is?? Want to see the building in its entirety?? Scroll down to the previous post and all will be revealed!!

In the meantime check out other shadow shots from around the world that constitute the weekly Shadow Shot Sunday...Enjoy!!

Sizing up the Scales of Slim's Soumaya......

Workmen are frantically putting the final touches to Carlos Slim's Soumaya gallery due to open to the public on March 29th. Fortunately it looks like only the final two of 16,000 shimmering aluminium hexagon scales need to be slotted into place....

Telecom tycoon, Carlos Slim, still listed as the richest man in the world according to Forbes, is intending to exhibit a much more substantial part of his private art collection which in total adds up to some 66,000 pieces. Previously a small selection has been displayed at the Soumaya gallery at Plaza Loreta in San Angel, a colonia in the south of the city. The new glittery building, shown in its entirety below, is located in Polanco in a new development called Plaza Carso, directly behind the Antara Mall.

The very striking building, a little reminiscent of the Guggenheim in Bilbao in its shininess and stunning metallic planes and curves, has been designed by Slim's son-in-law; a young architect named Fernando Romero. It is indeed an impressive addition to Mexico City's skyline...

The gallery will contain a mixture of works - some by very well known Mexican artists Tamayo and Rivera, but a great deal more will be by European artists, including the largest collection of Rodin sculptures outside of France....

Although the private opening and gala celebration has already taken place, the overall site is still one of construction with teams of builders working round the clock to get the building - exterior, interior, and surrounding locality ready for the end of March opening.......

Slim is hoping for this new gallery to be of world status and to put Mexico City firmly on the Art map globally...I will post after the opening to report on the gallery's initial success and popularity, as well as more about the interior and the contents...

In the meantime, I quite like the shot of the building from this angle, whereby it appears like a silver spaceship just landed from Outer Space....or just about to take off!!

Entrance to the Museum will be free as supposedly Slim wants Mexicans who can't afford to travel to be able to come and see work by the European Masters. For more global glimpses this week, check out My World Tuesday by clicking here....Enjoy!