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!

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 99 - Oaxaca

I am a fan of folk art - especially Mexican folk art, and here from Oaxaca are the delightful alebrijes - animals often fantastical, carved from wood and painted in vivid bright colours.....Each year there is a parade of giant alebrijes down the streets of central Mexico City before they take up residence in Reforma for a week long exhibition....

For more shadow shots from around the world this week, check out Shadow Shot Sunday by clicking here...

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!

Chilli and Lime!! Bidding a Fond Farewell to the Red Palace...

When I first moved to Mexico in the summer of 2005, I was astounded by the amazing strength of colour everywhere in my new surroundings, and loud colour combinations that just wouldn't work anywhere else in the world. Elsewhere they would be lurid, tacky and garish, but here under the strong Mexican sunlight and coupled with the sunny nature of the people and culture, these colours just work wonderfully well....

I was particularly struck by the combination of red and green - chilli and lime, tomato and nopal, pomegranite and courgette, that recurred again and again, not only in the markets, but also in the artesan work, botanical gardens, village plazas, and public spaces...

How could this particular colour combination be resisted??? I mean take a very close look at it....

Thus, when I moved into my own apartment downtown a year later, which was a totally blank canvas of white walls, white ceramic floors, and lots of light...it only seemed natural to transform it into The Red Palace...with chilli and lime everywhere in the artwork, rugs, furnishings, textiles, basketry, ceramics, folk art, vases, plates, dishes......

Here are some of the details in greater close-up....

So it will be with great sadness that I shall have to bid a fond farewell to the Red Palace in July, as I am moving to the French Riviera to take up a new post at The International School of Monaco.....the apartment will be dismantled in 4 months' time and definitely will not "travel" well to another destination..It is uniquely Mexico City!! So here is my record. For other global glimpses of the world this week check out the My World Postings by clicking here. Enjoy!

"Splendour and Solitude" Cai Guo-Qiang at MUAC......

Don't miss the trip down to the UNAM University campus to see Cai Guo-Qiang's first solo exhibition in Latin America " Resplandor y Soledad". The Chinese artist is renowned for his "explosion events" using pyrotechnics and fireworks on a large scale, as well as his gunpowder drawings (production pictured above), and site specific installations. In Chinese, the word gunpowder literally means "fire medicine" and Cai plays with the healing and destructive tendencies inherent in such material. Look at the transformation from destructive explosion to created serene and tranquil scene......

Cai's site specific installation for MUAC has created in the gallery space a highly dramatic and theatrical panoramic landscape of volcanic rock and lake which echoes Mexico City's foundation on Lake Texcoco.....

The lake is actually made from the alcohol mezcal which seems to give it particularly vibrant reflective qualities....

Around the lake are a sequence of fourteen gunpowder drawings that represent aspects of the Mexican landscape and culture - from cacti and maguey to Quetzalcoatl and Aztec warriors presided over by an immense exploding sun....

The images may be Mexican, but the sensibility is certainly Chinese, and it is extraordinary the detailed effects he can create from the gunpowder explosions which are so reminscent of the delicate inkwashes and fine brushstrokes of traditional Chinese art....

One of the most fascinating aspects of the exhibition is the room in which videos are shown of the artist at work - never has the production of art seemed so dynamic or intriguing with a cool, calm, and composed Cai in the middle of explosions whereby his assistants are either running for cover or dashing in to dampen down the flames. Here is a final image of the tranquility and solitude created from the violence and destruction of the explosions....

Indeed his social idealism which characterises all change, however, violent as carrying the seeds of positive creation seems particularly relevant and topical when viewing current global events. Cai Guo-Qiang is widely recognised as one of the most important figures of the contemporary art scene to emerge from post-revolutionary China. His exhibition continues at MUAC (Museum of Contemporary Art) until the 27th March 2011. For more global glimpses this week, check out My World Tuesday postings by clicking here. Enjoy!