Magical abstracts
By Henry Vermillion, June 30, 2006 

Those in San Miguel who don’t know Myrl D’Arcy are either new to town or lead a quiet life. Elegant in style, an eloquent raconteuse in her New Orleans patois, she is one of the treasures of San Miguel café society. She has appeared in film (the documentary about the life of Ruthie The Duck Girl, one of the many characters of the French Quarter, Myrl’s native turf).

She has traveled—as a painter—in Italy, France, Spain, Hong Kong and Indonesia. She owned and operated her own gallery in the Quarter for over 40 years before deciding San Miguel was for her. She’s now finishing up a house she herself designed.

As a young wife and mother, D’Arcy decided she wanted more: she wanted to become an artist. Her husband laughed at her when she set up in Jackson Square, the “Vieux Carré” of legend, and tried earning her own way by making individual fanciful designs out of her customers’ names.

She kept at it, selling her paintings as well, until her shoebox was full enough of money that she opened her own gallery. The rest is history, as they say.

After years of success painting the picturesque streets of New Orleans (and the bayous of the coast), D’Arcy shows new and different work tomorrow, Saturday, July 1, from 6 to 8pm at Galeria Izamal on Mesones 80, next to the Ángela Peralta Theater. The work will remain up through July.

How different is the work? Very different. The paintings, mostly small in format, are abstracts. They are as brightly colored as party favors. In one, happy conglomerates of shiny horizontal pink and purple wedges hover over (equally shiny) vertical green and royal blue vertical shapes. These elements are all held together by a thin central axis with handsome black and white stripes. Red bubbles issue out the top of the conglomerate. The whole grouping is made more three-dimensional by being placed on a black background. “Magical Abstracts”—the term fits.

Do these paintings fit in an art-historical context? They do. Where D’Arcy’s Louisiana scenes derive from traditional 19th-century oil techniques, the new work jumps from the 20th century of Miro, Calder and Klee into the 21st century, with a nod and a good-bye to Pop Art. The work is original, the colors glow like gemstones, and the designs are festive.

Only one piece, a lavender, onion-shaped form covered with confetti-like bits, suggests a darker interpretation. Seen upside down, the purple onion becomes a brightly decorated skull.

Izamal painters Juan Ezcurdia, Jaime Goded, Mike Kleimo, Marion Perlet, Henry Vermillion, Britt Zaist and jeweler Maria Bracho show new work as well.

Paintings by Myrl D’Arcy
Saturday, July 1, 6–8pm, Galería Izamal, Mesones 80



Keith Miller’s master seascapes
By Margaret Failoni

The Canadian master of romantic realism once again weaves his magic spell in presenting us with an extraordinary series of seascapes.

Familiar as we are with his gigantic, sensuous orchids, favorites with discerning collectors, we enter his studio and are confronted with a group of large, vivid seascapes, which take one’s breath away. 

They are so commanding that we can smell the iodized sea mist.

These paintings reveal the monumental intent and drama of the smashing waves to which the artist aspires. The chosen works for the exhibition are limited to a dazzling few, but they are of very high quality and cover various experimental techniques, from the large Zipoliti oils so reminiscent of Gericault’s 1819 “Raft of the Medusa” to small, exquisitely executed watercolors of the Port of New York with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. A sketchbook of watercolor studies of shores in southeast Asia furthers our enchantment. These small beauties are masterpieces deserving of a museum collection.

Keith Miller is a painter who is difficult to classify. He rises well above a particular genre or the specification of a style. Each of his works, whatever the subject matter, the size or technique, is an autonomous creation, a spark dominated by the means of expression that convenes at the moment of emotion or ambiance. The technical ability of this artist can be clearly distinguished from most contemporary painting. Here we see not only Miller’s personal magic applied, but also fruitful years of correct training: never a vulgar color tone, never a careless brush stroke. The very refined variations in the application of the matter is what makes such a distinctive difference. 

Today’s young artists would do well to examine these works carefully, to discover true virtuosity. So much so that Miller can be defined as an artist’s artist. And beyond that? Just gaze upon and thoroughly enjoy the beauty of this work.

Paintings by Keith Miller
Saturday, July 1, 5–8pm, Generator Gallery, Fábrica La Aurora, Calzada de la Aurora



Galería Casa Diana summer season

Galería Casa Diana opens the summer season with a group show featuring work from the gallery’s permanent artists.

Robert Wymelenberg, apprentice of the late Lothar Kestenbaum, will present a series of exquisite African elephants and a modern dance figure.

The show also includes several original paintings and objets d’art by surrealist painter Pedro Friedeberg, recent work in bronze and crystal resin from Luis Espiridion, several photographs by Deborah Turbeville from her Guatemala series, a series of bronze sculptures based on the Mayan “Tzolkin” calendar by Magaly Padilla, recent oil paintings in the Pre-Raphaelite style by Cyr Casas, mixed-media and oil paintings along with a bronze bust of the renowned opera singer Fernando de la Mora by Laumuq, new assemblages in metal and stone by Miguel Angel Morales and recent mixed-media paintings and sculptures by Carmen Gutiérrez.

The opening cocktail reception will be held at the gallery, located at Recreo 48, on Thursday, July 6, from 6 to 9pm.



Expressiveness of figurative detail

Rodrigo Lara displays a knowledge of the human form and its anatomy that is almost astounding for an artist in our time. In this exhibit, he focuses on the particularities of the anatomical and racial characteristics of each of his subjects, showing the beauty of difference. 

This varied and interesting collection brings to sight not only the movement of the body, but also the expressiveness of the face and hands. The material interests that envelop us are dramatically emphasized: greed, vanity, egoism, varying according to the situation in which each subject is trapped.

Works by Rodrigo Lara Zendezas, 
Saturday, July 1, 7–9pm, ArtesMéxico, Galería Carlos MuRo, Zacateros 81a