A tale of two worlds
By Margaret Failoni, June 1, 2007


Art opening
Sat, June 2, 5:30–8pm
The Generator Gallery
Fábrica la Aurora
Calzada de la Aurora


The new management of the Generator Gallery has yet to make a commitment—other than that of presenting quality work—to any overarching philosophy and promotional objective. Instead, they allow the artists’ works to be the principal point of reference. In its quest to a wide panorama of international contemporary art to San Miguel, the Generator presents two one-person exhibitions in June 2007.

Abel Ducatel’s world

For decades, Haitian art has been perceived as having a particular style and content, that reflects a rather naïve vision of the rural life in its villages. But any exhibition with a geographic slant risks becoming mere touristy hype, flattened to satisfy all tastes. Abel Ducatel has succeeded in avoiding this trap by presenting a snapshot of a country whose problems and contrasts afflict all of globalized society. The artist narrates Haitian life as affected by local and international conflict. The spiritual connotations of Haitian beliefs along with its history of domination is interwoven with cause and effect from the international theater of events. 

Ducatel’s work is a brilliant synthesis between Haitian traditions and virtual innovation, marked by a lyricism that remains suspended somewhere between nostalgia and wrath. Naiveté has been replaced by awareness. The bright color is there, the same actors are on the stage, but the sets and music have changed.

Abel Ducal was born in Port Au Prince, Haiti, during the birth of Pop Art. This scholarly young man traveled widely throughout Europe and the United States before settling in Monterrey, Mexico, where he teaches art and French.

Navarro Tadeo’s mythological world

A renowned art teacher in Guadalajara for several decades, Navarro Tadeo has painted all his life. These last years, before retiring from his position as director of a prestigious art school, Tadeo has dedicated more and more time to meditation and the continuous discovery of his Mexican being, wandering ever deeper into the world of Mexican mythology.

Color and magic permeate his work with deft brushstrokes and brilliant use of color. The artist narrates the dramatic origins of his roots. We see the plumed Aztec god Quetzalcoatl dancing across the picture plane, with the Volcan del Fuego in the background, high Cihuas priests leading a procession in a vortex of movement, Balam, the Mayan jaguar divinity, leaps towards us from the foreground. We see death, but it is not menacing; the participants rise to a greater truth. 

Using eroticism as well as the fetishism of mythological knowledge, Tadeo stages a refined theater that is replete with tantalizing clues to his inner world. The artist chronicles a world not really that far removed from present-day Mexico. He creates a vestigial atmospheric illusionism with constant movement in breathtaking composition. 

Through the use of mythology, Tadeo forms a complete picture of this fascinating country, for without approaching its mythology, one cannot begin to understand Mexico and the psyche of its people.

Tadeo responds to the situation in contemporary art by trying to come to terms with the heritage of the Transavantgard movement, the relationship between engagement and the personal, and the position of an artist in contemporary society. This exhibition is his latest contribution to this debate and appears more introverted and autonomous.

Art opening

“San Miguel Art Rocks! The 2007 edition”
Sat, June 2, 6–8pm
Galería/Atelier
Fábrica La Aurora
Calzada de la Aurora

Works by San Miguel favorites such as Alejandro Rivera, Ed Osman, Margarette Dawit, Ignacio Maldonado, Mauricio Gómez Vélez, Angelina Pérez Ibargüen, Patricia de la Parra, Guillermo Guerrero Arias, Diego Larrain, Damian Comas will be exhibited and there will be a few surprise artists as well. New jewelry designs by long-time San Miguel artist/jeweler, Diana Maycotte will also be on display.