Art Exhibit
Mexmindscapes
Kurth Bousman
Jul 16–Aug 5, 10am–2pm & 4–8pm
Arias Art Gallery
Correo 7 

Harvesting magic
By José Luis Arias

Fast on the heels of his show entitled “The Art of Memory” at the world-class HCG Gallery in Dallas, Texas, Kurth Bousman comes to San Miguel.

We at Arias Art Gallery are pleased to present the artist and his series of photo-based works entitled “Mexmindscapes,” in which Mexican Realism, landscape and popular culture are surrealistically sewn together into a collage of magical reality.

Everyday Mexican life produces the sensation of being in a magical dreamland, created by its inhabitants and reinterpreted by its visitors, captivated by colors, textures and ancient ancestral customs. This work is a surrealistic recollection of cultural expressions. Its multiple manifestations captivate the viewer, as the fleeting moment in the artist’s mind leaves a profound impact. This in turn propels the artist to recreate and reconnect with new images, permitting him once again to revisit that mystical world filled with allegories and new interpretations of the environment around us.

The creative process of the collage mirrors the continuity of the fragments of daily life which are integrated into a greater meaning. The artist-magus, due to his nature as a creator and harvester of images, forms and sensations from different worlds, finds the magic of space and logic even within the implausible.

The images portrayed by Bousman, more than a social statement, are a poetic myth that unveils 

new signs within the Mexican realm, emanating sensations of the grotesque and innocent, vanity and faith, the creative and the tacky.

We cordially invite you to participate in these magical visual landscapes filled with images of Mexican culture from a creative wizard’s mind.



_______________________________________________



Art Opening
Claudia Borgna
Fri, Jul 17, 6–8pm
Zoho Gallery
Fábrica la Aurora 1C
155-9432

Beauty and danger
By Claudia Borgna

International artist Claudia Borgna finds herself in San Miguel this month. Her thought-provoking installations incorporate a material so common in our modern world, one might never imagine that it holds an intrinsic beauty. Her innovation transforms trash (or is it?) into treasure.

One gathers an idea of her process from her mission statement:

Traveling around, I have come to realize we are living in a world overflowing with waste. This starting point led me to investigate the relationship between discarded materials, such as plastic bags, and the environment.

In past years, I have been looking at how rubbish and man-made objects are transforming and creating new landscapes and becoming more integrated into nature.

This process, which I call “the evolution of landscape,” is generated by our modern lifestyle, i.e. consumption. I find it interesting to observe, because from an artistic point of view, this is a very exciting material to work with and exploit.

After working for years with all sorts of discarded materials, waste and rubbish, I decided that for the time being I would focus on working with plastic bags. Plastic bags epitomize perfect and quintessential discarded objects. The plastic bag is the symbolic embryo that contains our lifestyle and is the vessel that carries it out in its journey.

I find plastic bags interesting because of their remarkable contradictory qualities. Plastic bags are in fact both worthless and useful, disposable and recyclable, flimsy and strong, ephemeral and eternal. Above all, they are universal.

By putting the plastic bag in an artistic context, I would like to elevate it to another dimension that takes it away from the idea of the banal and obvious and, for an instant, transforms it into a poetic object. It becomes an inspiring mass-produced muse, with forms, lines and color, that interact with the surrounding environment.

Like my performances, the plastic bags are a human and therefore natural appendix of man. Because one could argue that whatever is man-made is natural, then ultimately nature is an unstable and unreliable human construction ruled by social and cultural needs.

I have chosen to materialize my ideas through the form of installation, because in this way I find I can better express the concept of environment, space, time and duration. I like my installation to be large and give a sense of multitude and mass, as in mass-production, to be invasive by taking over space to the point of suffocation, and to be in constant evolution and therefore changeable.

I want my work to become a virtual lyrical extension of modern life that substitutes the old idealized concept of nature with a romanticized modern one.

My works want to underline the relationship, or the conflict, between culture and nature, and how they both influence and reflect each other, but I also want to build an awareness and comment on the way we are living and how it effects the environment.

The comment is non-judgmental, since I haven’t resolved for myself, and never will, its contradictory nature of beauty and danger.

For more information, visit www.claudiaborgna.keepfree.de/cb/Claudia_Borgna.html. 



______________________________________________


Art Opening
La Humanidad y los Ángeles Caidos
(Humanity and Fallen Angels)
Mario Cabrero
Fri, Jul 17, 7pm
Sala Equis
Bellas Artes
Hernández Macías 75

Pain becomes beauty
By Mario Cabrero

At this stage in my life as an artist, at the conclusion of my trajectory, I call Humanity and the Fallen Angels. I always propose that groups of people represent the human condition, gregarian by nature and also participatory in love and pain.

The Fallen Angels are a metaphor of Ego, of all the world’s distractions, of the “illusionary world” in which the Ego finally hurls to the ground under its own weight. They also represent the reign of the possession of power that is contradictory to being and the idea that: “How much you have, that much is your value,” instead of “How much you love, that much you are.”

An artist’s situation determines his or her work, as well as the message needed to be communicated. For this reason, along with the conclusion of my trajectory as an artist, I decided to include a brief description of my present condition.

I suffer an illness, controllable but not curable, called “Horton’s Cluster Headache” named after Bayard T. Horton, who considered it the most one of the most intense pains a human being can bear. The big question is—what internal resources can one human being have to carry on with extreme pain?

This experience has produced a significant spiritual change. It has allowed me to transmute pain into beauty through my work.

In any case, I decided to give it meaning. My artistic trajectory in sculpture began in Carrara, Italy. To make a marble sculpture it is necessary to hammer again and again with different kinds of chisels to wrest away what is not needed, the superfluous.

Physical pain acts in a similar way; it wrests contact with every surrounding. It isolates and makes the patient go within. What makes us re-connect after an attack and want to live again? It is love.

After having a painful attack, I am so exhausted and sore that what I need is a hug. That’s why, in painting human groups I embrace them lovingly, and in that way I receive the hug I long for.

After experiencing so much pain, I decided come to a conclusion in my art and in my life. I am grateful, because it has clipped away the superfluous and now, if I am not free from pain, I can be free from the previous pattern in which I was immersed. I am now able to know myself more profoundly.



______________________________________________



Art Opening
Chango, ya no le dediques 
tanto tiempo a los pajaritos
Iván Puig
Sat, July 25, 10pm
Kunsthaus Santa Fe
Santa Fe 22 A, Col. Allende

Poetic necessities of art and film
By Ana Quiroz

Kunsthaus Santa Fe presents the Iván Puig exhibition, “Chango, ya no le dediques tanto tiempo a los pajaritos,” as part of the Expresión en Corto International Film Festival. Puig’s work has been shown in Mexico, Spain, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Germany and the US.

Puig’s work raises a series of aesthetic, conceptual and formal questions which are slowly processed until they result in an artistic object that is in no way simply a piece in an exhibition. Many times it reflects upon these elements or stimuli in order to expand an idea and take it to its ultimate consequences.

Puig uses various techniques for the fabrication of his artistic discourses, reaching formally hybrid solutions that do not lend themselves to clear classification of his work. It moves from the most extreme abstraction of music, as an analysis of sound, movement and light in a circle of bottles of water, to criticism of power, private property and daily life, tossed together into a pack of earth. The techniques of his creative processes are subordinated to his poetic necessities, taking playfulness and experimentation as points of departure.

Chango, ya no le dediques tanto tiempo a los pajaritos remains open at Kunsthaus Santa Fe until September. 



____________________________________________________



Art Opening
Yoshiyuki & Mitsuyo Sekigawa
Fri, Jul 24, 4–6pm
St. Paul’s Church
Cardo 6
Raffle tickets 50 pesos

Sensual sculptures
By Beverly Russell

Two of San Miguel’s highly respected resident artists, Yoshiyuki Sekigawa and his wife Mitsuyo, show their work at St. Paul’s Church, July 24–August 15. Sekigawa, a distinguished sculptor, teaches at Instituto Allende.

Born in 1953 in Niigata, Japan, he came to Mexico in 1982 and had his first show of work in Aguascalientes in 1985. Since then, his work has appeared in 15 exhibitions around the world. Following this exhibition, he will have an October show at Bellas Artes

Sekigawa’s sensual abstract shapes are hewn from marble and onyx in varying sizes, colors and striations The pieces will be shown in the Parish Hall and the rear garden of the church. They are ideal for garden landscaping.

In her career as a fiber artist, Mitsuyo fabricated extraordinary wall hangings by weaving pieces of cloth, ribbons, rope and other found objects into assemblages of dazzling color and beauty.

At the opening reception, the 50-peso ticket is for a raffle of artwork and other donations from friends of the Sekigawas. The raffle is to help raise funds for Mitsuyo, a recent victim of multiple sclerosis, who needs funds for her caregivers. For more information or to make donations, call Rory Kyle at 154-9375.


Beverly Russell is the author of several books on the arts and writes for numerous publications.

__________________________________________________



Art Exhibition
Isabel Badillo & Keith Keller
Mon, Jul 20, 5–7:30pm
Universidad de León
Plaza Cívica
Insurgentes 1

A student blossoms
By Bill Pearlman

A while back José Luz Badillo Durantes, a metal artesan who has been making tin retablos for many years, paid a visit to Keith Keller’s art gallery and school, La Escuela. It made an impression on him, and later he brought his daughter, Linda Isabel, to the school.

Since then, Isabel, who had worked with her father from the age of 17, has become an invaluable part of Keller’s La Escuela as the chief assistant who handles the details of the school. Even more important, according to Keith, her work has been “an inspiration to other students, and she has become one of the school’s best painters.” She has taken instruction with passionate interest and regularly borrows art books from La Escuela’s library. “Her dedication to getting it right is extraordinary,” Keller says of her work ethic.

Isabel has developed an exhibition of paintings at Universidad de Leon that includes a few works by her teacher, Keith Keller. Isabel shows paintings she has done over the last two years.

We hope to see you at the opening, a big night for Isabel and a chance for you to see art from teacher and student side by side. Their work is on display from July 20–24 at the Universidad de León.

_________________________________________________



Book Signing & Photography Exhibition 
Deborah Turbeville, Casa No Name
Thu, Jul 23, 6–8pm
Fri, Jul 24, noon–2pm
Galería Casa Diana
Recreo 48

A photographer’s private haven
By Carmen Gutiérrez

Galería Casa Diana hosts two cocktail receptions for a book signing and solo exhibition by the internationally renowned photographer Deborah Turbeville.

Casa No Name, a Rizzoli publication and her eighth book, has received rave reviews. FQ magazine’s Jeanne Beker says, “Casa No Name features the photographer’s private haven through her eyes, along with portraits of local people and scenery along with some of Turbeville’s own writing on the experiences she’s had in the city. The images are exquisitely evocative and painterly...a testament to the refined, dreamy aesthetic for which Tureville has become famous. Perhaps the most joyful aspect of the old casa is its exotic eclecticism.”

“I’ve collected a lot of Mexican things,” says Turbeville, “like the old iron beds that I bought in antique or junk shops, and there’s lots of stuff from Paris, including at least two beds, as well as items from New York and St. Petersburg.”

Above all, she cherishes her countless handmade pieces bought from local crafts people. “I wanted to instill a kind of spirituality into the house. I love the way the artisans made these things and the dedication they have to them. They all have such a personal quality. They’re so special. I think that is what the house is about—the way it’s been put together slowly, with care. It’s a work in progress and it never finishes,” she says.

Deborah Turbeville grew up in Boston and on the coast of Maine, where she developed a fascination with environments. She moved to New York before she was 20 and worked for designer Claire McCardell. Turbeville credits McCardell as a major influence on her career, first as an editor at Harper’s Bazaar and Mademoiselle and later as a photographer.

An acclaimed photo artist, Turbeville’s elusive and evocative style transforms fashion photography into avant-garde art. Her soft-focused and pointillistic work appears regularly in American, French and Italian editions of Vogue, Zoom, Camera and Mirabella.

Her work is exhibited internationally and in recent years she has shown at the Beaubourg (Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris); New York’s Sonnabend Gallery; Il Ponte in Rome, and at Seibu and Parco in Japan. Previous books include Wallflower and Unseen Versailles, for which she received the American Book Award in 1982. In 1983, the Art Institute of Boston awarded her an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in recognition of Turbeville’s “rare ability to bring her art to her commercial work.”

Galería Casa Diana will exhibit a large selection of the original photographs presented in Casa No Name. The spectacular exhibition will be a wonderful opportunity to purchase one of her books. Casa Diana is open Monday–Saturday, 10am–2pm and 4–7pm; Sundays, noon–2pm; or by appointment at 152-0885.

___________________________________________________



Art Exhibition
Marisa Ross
The Art of Simplicity
Featuring art Jewels by Marcela Andres
Through August
Mero Arte Contemporáneo
Zacateros 24

Nature lends life to two artists

Hannah Jarmain has invited two artists, Marisa Ross and Marcela Andres, to display their work at MERO gallery in the months of July and August. Ross offers Japanese ink paintings, while Andres’ jewelry is showcased.

Sumi-e is the ancient art of Japanese ink painting. This art form traditionally features subjects from nature and conveys their essence using a minimum of brush strokes. Marisa Ross says, “When I was first introduced to sumi-e painting, I was struck by its simplicity and spontaneity: black ink and spare lines that radiate with a palpable energy that gives the impression of color. I went that day to buy the materials I would need. They are known as the four treasures: ink stick, ink stone, rice paper and brushes. I love to grind the ink and smell the woodsy, piney fragrance it emits. It allows for a meditative space in which I can center my energy before picking up the brush”

Ross first began painting in the sumi-e style in the 1970s while living in Hawaii. Nearly 20 years later she picked up the brush again when she was studying with teachers at the Puget Sound Sumi-e Artists’ Society in Seattle, Washington.

Ross says, "When I arrived in San Miguel de Allende, four years ago, I was delighted to encounter Yasuaki Yamashita, a local ceramicist and painter with whom I studied in 2005. Lessons helped me improve my brushwork and gave me practice in traditional techniques. On my own I have continued to paint in the sumi-e style and also to explore using watercolors and canvas.

“Painting in the sumi-e tradition allows me to honor the forms and colors and shapes that nature has offered us.” She always finds elements of surprise in working with these materials. Ross admits that, “Sumi-e does not lend itself to erasures or indecision. Sumi-e painting has become a way to associate myself with the life-giving force in nature. At times, words fail me. That’s why I paint”

Marcela Andre is an independent artist and scholar from San Miguel’s first international generation. Her jewels are in the permanent collection of the Light of Truth Universal Shrine, a center for international peace through interfaith understanding around the globe.

Huguenot diamond jewelers, Virginia patriots, Native American wisewomen, Iowa physicians, Hollywood movie directors and Mexico independence heroes are all in Andre’s DNA, a twentieth-century crucible of cultural alchemy in San Miguel. The decades have tempered this artist-in-residence in the world-peace and healing cultures.

Andre has found herself to be a jewel artist, poet, master yoga chantmaster and lord-keeper-of-the-sacred conch with the oldest Chichimeca Native American Council in San Miguel de Allende.

She is a creator of regalia with nature as her teacher—from beachcombing as a child in Malibu, to the cityscape of New York, to the rugged volcanic gems of the Mesoamerican geological anvil, pounding power into every atom emitted from the xicco, the navel, of the world.

The jewels honor our light upon the planet, the creation, the beauty and strength of life force—prana in Sanskrit—enhancing and celebrating the vitality of the universe, our home.