Art at The Aurora: The bad, the good and the ugly
By Margaret Failoni

For a city renowned as an art center, at times the choices available can be questionable at best. Even the most knowledgeable dealer can be forced to make some difficult choices, the rents being what they are. But is it the fault of the dealer or is the demand for kitsch and purely decorative works the real culprit?

To breathe truly great contemporary art, every once in a while we go to Mexico City where the choice of good galleries showing truly world-quality art is readily available. Artists from all over the world are living and creating in that city. Most of the better artists in San Miguel show in Mexico City or in the US.

Of course, this article is going to gain me a great deal of criticism, for who am I to judge? Well, I’m old enough, with enough background and experience to make this leap and I’m really beyond caring about criticism. There is so much money in town, yet people buy schlock to hang over their sofas. They do research before going to their Mexican plastic surgeon, but spend much more buying art to accompany their furniture, usually matching in colors without doing any research. It comes with the furniture. Some of the so-called art hanging in million-dollar homes is really sad. Many fine artists have to go elsewhere to show and sell.

I don’t pretend San Miguel homeowners should become educated overnight to the contemporary art scene. There is plenty of decent, readily-understood figurative painting available which doesn’t particularly require great knowledge and are for sale at very competitive prices. And there are some local galleries showing it. The LeNoir Gallery in town generally, and I underline generally, has a good choice of quality figurative art. The Bellas Artes exhibition space, under new management, has been showing some interesting work. But the much-touted Aurora Design Center is the focus of my meandering today. I won’t go into the Bad and the Ugly in this article’s title for I think I’ve made enough enemies for the day, but I would like to point out some of the Good available at the time of this writing.

I visited the Generator Gallery, which is no longer an artists’ co-op but under new ownership and management, which has had to make some hard choices. In the auxiliary generator room along with a few art works, is an interesting exhibition of beautiful jewelry by local designers; Sandra Zeel with her Chinese horoscope pieces and the LeNoir amber collection which deserves to be seen in an art gallery. The show in the main exhibition area is of nine artists. Wonderful photos by Norma Suarez previously seen the month before in the series Diversysex still impress. Some very loud, abstract paintings by San Miguel’s favorite mural artist, David Leonardo, were outdone by a lovely ceramic sphere, wildly painted in gold and bright colors, about 55 cm. in diameter, titled “Hikuli.” Further down that wall hang three 122x122 cm. paintings in gold and enamel by Greg Ellis and Shirley Marcantel in collaboration with Wabi Sabi. The latter had two sensational squares hanging in the generator room. 

On the far wall were two beautifully painted canvases of flowers in a vase by Ignacio Maldonado in a very Post-Impressionist style quite different from what we’re accustomed to with this artist. This lovely series deserves a show of its own. 

There were three photographs on canvas by Lulu Torbet, an artist whose work I like, but on canvas they lacked the usual spark and crystalline light prevalent in her work.

Last but not least were three very interesting and whimsical temperas on board by Mary Jane Miller who usually paints Greek/Russian-style icons. These three— The Last Supper: Turkey, The Last Supper: Japan and the Last Supper: Africa —were beautifully done and quite charming.

The new Pepe Cerroblanco (the premium jeweler) Art/Design space, BU/BU has an exhibition by the sculptor José Marín. The original exhibition opened a few weeks ago with relatively small, well-executed, commercial pieces, but Cerroblanco has since brought in the real stuff, a large, major bronze of a winged man, sitting in contemplation like a resting angel. The piece is sensational and I would love to see it stay in San Miguel. The more famous brother, Xavier Marín of this very artistic family, has some important pieces in the home of two San Miguel collectors (among the few in town) and it would be fitting if José’s beautiful work could be included.

The Marilo Carral Studio has some very loud, Post-Impressionist landscape and flower paintings, some of which are quite captivating. They are very alive and you can almost smell the petals. I especially liked Bosque.

The Ar & Ar Gallery had a lovely untitled work by Luz Garcia López hanging on their outside wall, consisting of a charcoal, ink and crayon drawing on stressed and wrinkled Kraft paper… very good indeed.

Perhaps my favorites of the day were two very large 222x100 cm. exquisite drawings and collages on matte paper, Floraciones I & II by Marisa Boullosa, hanging on the outer wall of the Factoria Arte Contemporaneo Gallery.

Last but not least, I stopped off at that chaos of a space which is the Florencia Riestre Gallery. Leaning against some antique furniture and waiting to be hung were an exquisite Franciso Toledo etching from his crocodile series, some fabulous, large minimalist photos by Eric Giebeler, and the very best ceramic works by Rivelino and Héctor De Anda. These two artists will participate in the group exhibition by artists who work in clay planned for the Bellas Artes exhibition center coming up soon. This gallery never fails to bring some outstanding Mexican art if you can wade through the chaos to find it. They are re-hanging now and plan to separate the art from the antiques. It should make things easier.

I came away from the Aurora disappointed in a lot of what I saw, but the really good works mentioned above more than made up for it.

Margaret Failoni is an independent curator and art historian who has lived in San Miguel for 13 years. She curates exhibitions of contemporary art for museums, public spaces and some galleries in Mexico after a full-time career in Rome, Italy.

Call for entries in jewelry design

Art opening
Fri, Sept 21
YAM Gallery
Instituto Allende, Interior 1
Ancha de San Antonio 20

A contest at Bellas Artes on September 28–29 is the first edition of San Miguel Design, an annual event to promote and stimulate the development, the consolidation and the institutional recognition of jewelry design in San Miguel de Allende. 

Any jewel designer, resident or represented in San Miguel, may participate. Only necklaces, in any material and technique, will be accepted. The maximum size allowed is 20 x 35 cm.

The selected pieces will be part of an exhibition which will remain open from September 28 to October 3 at Bellas Artes’ Salon Principal. They will be returned on Monday, October 8. The selected designers will have an individual showcase 1 x 1 m. x 30 cm. with three shelves. They will be included in the jewelry parade in the central courtyard. Two prizes will be awarded—first place will win 6,000 pesos and second place 4,000 pesos, plus certificates which credit them as winners of the first jewelry contest in San Miguel. Others will receive diplomas recognizing their participation. During the following year, the winning designers’ showcases will be placed in 12 different hotels in San Miguel. 

The reception of works will be September 21 at the YAM Gallery.