It's not often that San Miguel art galleries have the chance to exhibit priceless artworks, especially previously unseen pieces. But that's exactly what you'll find at the Generator Gallery's current exhibition, "The Lost Art of Mitchell Caton. "This exhibit showcases the African-American artist's private works, providing a unique opportunity for viewing the pieces for the first time.

Best known for his work as a muralist with the Chicago Public Art Group during the 1960s and '70s, Caton devoted his life to his art. Self-taught, he worked in many different media and styles, infusing each piece with his passion and energy.

Despite being a prolific artist, Caton never exhibited or sold his work because he believed that no value could be placed on it. The exception were his murals, including one of Benito Juarez done in collaboration with Chicano artists.

Caton's private collection was discovered in suitcases by his son, Tyler Mitchell, a San Miguel resident. Unwilling to let his father's work remain lost to the world, Tyler framed the paintings he found and decided to exhibit them.

Generator Gallery is featuring a selection of pieces in different media and scale that cover a variety of themes. The exhibit will be on display until mid-May.

Art exhibit, "The Lost Art of Mitchell Caton" Generator Gallery, Fábrica La Aurora, Calzada de la Aurora Ongoing until mid-May

 

Jewel-like play of light and color

Artist Glenn McKay has this to say about his upcoming exhibit at Galería RaLuz:

The first time I lived in San Miguel was in 1963. I was a young man with visions of becoming a known, serious artist. I look back on that time with amusement and warm feelings about art, brilliant light, love, laughter, magic moments, Mexican colors and new friends-most of whom went on to other lives and places.

The intense light magnified the colors and turned the shadows into silhouettes cut from black paper. I and my young painter friends, walking the street on the shady side, noticed with amazement that we had all turned blue-our skin, clothes, even our teeth. The light was bouncing from a blue façade across the street.

This experience stayed with me for years. In 1964, I returned to the States for museum and gallery shows in Kansas City, Missouri, then on to San Francisco, where I discovered light shows at the Fillmore Auditorium. The light and moving liquid colors were the most intense I had ever experienced. And so I became a light-show artist, performing at the Fillmore. I later traveled with the Jefferson Airplane in Europe and the United States. We performed at all the major pop festivals, climaxing with a performance at the Whitney Museum in New York.

In 1999 I had a one-man, 40-year retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and in 2000 I gave a special performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, using light and color in a more advanced way with new technology.

The slides for the light show were hand-painted on two-inch by two-inch glass. I was painting-but very, very small.

Life took me once again to San Miguel, where I lived over an ice cream store near the San Juan de Dios market. Picking up where I left off with abstract expressionism in 1966, I returned to opaque colors in my paintings.

The paintings in this show at Galería RaLuz are from 2001 and 2002. These little, jewel-like paintings are the abstract expressions of light and color found in this country of contrast between light and dark, using a rich array of stored imagery. My artistic endeavors as a photographer, light-show artist, videographer and painter were empowered by the light and color I discovered in San Miguel, which continue to inform my explorations with paint and photography.

Inauguración, Obras de Glenn McKay
jueves 6 de abril, 5-7pm
Galería RaLuz, Hotel San Francisco, Plaza Principal




Lo nuevo de Piniero (Mar 31, 2006)

En esta muestra el artista nos ofrece su obra más reciente. Pintura abstracta concebida bajo los valores de la tradición estética y meditativa del wabi-sabi, ejercicio ancestral del budismo japonés en el que el autor se apoya para a través de técnicas y materiales diversos crear un cuerpo de obra fresca y contemporánea.

Es en esta búsqueda en donde encontramos los valores existenciales de esta disciplina, según la cual, el mundo es imperfecto, incompleto e impermanente.

Es precisamente en el reconocimiento de esta realidad, (la imposibilidad de perfección y permanencia tanto en el ser humano como en la naturaleza) donde el artista encuentra ese espacio de inspiración, de satisfacción contemplativa llamado "Satori", o iluminación personal.

Está todo el público invitado a galería Yam para acompañar al artista y los galeristas en la ultima actividad que la galería desarro- llara en su locación actual. Como es habitual después de las 9pm Limerick pub albergará la fiesta de celebración de este evento.

Inauguración, Obras de Joaquín Pineiro
sábado 1 de abril, 7pm
Galería YAM, Umarán 23

Show de Flamenco
viernes 31 de marzo, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana, Biblioteca Pública, Insurgentes 25
150 pesos




Inauguración, Obras de Juan Ezcurdia
viernes 31 de marzo, 6-8pm
Galería Lagundi, Umarán 17