Casa de la Cultura Oaxaqueña (CCO)

In the mid 60's the former convent of the seven princes was restored into the School of the Arts and Crafts of Oaxaca which later closed in 1971 when the Casa de la Cultura was created, becoming one of the few houses of culture that existed in Mexico.

The restored former convent, now the Casa de la Cultura, retains a courtyard surrounded by arches on two levels, with a beautiful octagonal fountain in the center.

The Casa de la Cultura presents shows and provides space for classes in folk dance and music, and has workshops of plastic arts such as painting, sculpture and folk art.  It is located at the corner of Gonzales Ortega and Colon in the center of the city.

If you visit on Saturday the Casa de la Cultura will be alive with students in music, dance and other arts.  The Casa de la Cultura hosts art exhibitions.  Their Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Casa-de-Cultura-Oaxaqueña/157082727689541

Fue a mediados de la década de los años 60 cuando el ex convento de los siete príncipes fue restaurado y convertido en la Escuela de las Artes y Oficios de Oaxaca, en el año 1971 de decide cerrar la escuela debido al poco éxito alcanzado y el edificio es ocupado para la creación de la Casa de la Cultura Oaxaqueña, con ello se convierte una de las pocas Casas de la Cultura que existían en esos años en el país.

El Ex Convento restaurado, hoy Casa de la Cultura, conserva un patio rodeado de arcos en sus dos niveles, con una hermosa fuente octagonal en el centro.

                                           

Aquí se representan espectáculos organizados por la Institución Cultural. En los salones adaptados se imparten clases de: danza folklórica y música, también cuenta con talleres de artes plásticas como pintura, escultura y artes populares.  La casa de la cultura se ubica en cruce que hacen las calles de Gonzáles Ortega y Colon en el centro de la ciudad.

Si usted visita el sábado la Casa de Cultura estará vivo con los estudiantes de música, danza y otras artes. La Casa de la Cultura se realizan exposiciones de arte. Su página de Facebook es http://www.facebook.com/pages/Casa-de-Cultura-Oaxaqueña/157082727689541

Francisco Toledo

Francisco Toledo at an inauguration for his ceramic tiles at Tienda Q

Many consider Francisco Toledo the greatest living artist of Mexico. He has come to be synonymous with Mexico's soul or at least the soul of his beloved state, Oaxaca.  Through him the heritage of his people has been refined and through him has poured into an astonishing array of work. To feel Mexico, immerse yourself in the work of Toledo. 

One of his designs on a kite at the paper factory in San Agustín Etla

Francisco Toledo was born to Zapotec parents in Juchitan, Oaxaca on July 17, 1940. He comes from the same state and indigenous background as Rufino Tamayo, another great painter from Oaxaca.  Both Toledo and Tamayo carry a unique energy in their work identified with the mystical beauty of Oaxaca. Both men borrowed from European and American movements and techniques, but remain firmly independent in their vision shunning the artistic dictates influencing Mexico following the revolution.

In 1950 Toledo began his career in the printing studio of Arturo Garcia Bustos and then went on to study at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Oaxaca. He went to Mexico City in 1957 where he studied graphic arts under Guillermo Silva Santamaria.  In 1959 Toledo exhibited his work for the first time at the Antonio Souza Gallery.  By the time he was 20, he had taken residence in Europe remaining for five years settling in Paris. By the time he returned to Mexico in 1965, he was already a recognized artist celebrated for his development of the mythic and his sacred sense of life. He integrated himself into the artistic community of Oaxaca, mastering an incredible array of media including lithography, engraving, sculpture, ceramics and painting. He designed tapestries with the weavers of Teotitlan de Valle executing his designs.

A mobile figure laser cut from x-ray film

His reputation spread quickly in the 1970’s. A lot of what we think of as representative of Toledo - cats, dogs, bats, insects  - came out of this period. During this period, he also started to experiment with semi-erotic male figures, often with faces that were like sketches in geometric form similar to ancient masks.  By 1980 his work was so significant that the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City had a retrospective of his painting.

The world was seduced by the power of his creations bordering on the fantastic fused with the real that resides in nature, and takes on the fantastic when inspired art raises it to the highest degree.  Toledo is a visual poet who looks at the world and notices strange analogies. His art suggests shapes within shapes, and actions have actions within actions. Though Oaxaca is always present beneath the surfaces of his images, he is able to take his surroundings and imbue it with the universal. Through his work we feel unconsciously his own heritage, yet he touches that connecting cord in all of us, that root from which we all sprang.

Toledo designed paper jewelry in San Agustín Etla

His work shows an innate, natural feeling for diverse material through which he expresses complex ideas. His graphic imagination shapes visual thoughts, more than simply being a storyteller.  Since the 1990s he has included more geometric forms in his art.  His fascination with the myths of his people and the nature that appears in their stories shows in the images transformed by his magical imagination into an art in which man is inclusive in the universe.

CASA, San Agustín Etla

In the cargo system characteristic of indigenous pueblo leadership, members of the pueblo have obligations to fulfill for the good of the community. Toledo has given back to the community by being a catalyst and a guardian of the arts. He created the Instituto de Artes Graficas de Oaxaca (IAGO) which has a collection of more than 12,000 volumes dealing with painting, graphics, drawing, sculpture, archeology, design, library science, popular art, textile, ceramics, photography, film, literature, and Mexican art, and a collection of over 6,000 works by Mexican and foreign artists. The IAGO also hosts exhibitions and conferences.  He was also involved in the founding of the Museum de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca (MACO), and the Patronato Pro-Defense y Conservacion del Patrimonio Cultural de Oaxaca which sponsors the Jorge Luis Borges library for the blind, the Alvarez Bravo Center for photography, and the Eduardo Mata music library. In 2006 the Centro de Artes de San Agustín (CASA) in San Agustín Etla opened by his initiative.  At CASA one can study photography, digital graphics, textile design, preservation of heritage, art conservation, and man’s interaction with his environment.  

In Oaxaca it is common to see Toledo on the street especially near the IAGO.  He also is present at some art openings, a frequent occurrence in Oaxaca.  His art is distinctive, easily recognizable, with a certain element that carries over from one media to another as well as from one period to the next.  More of my photos are available on my picasa web album.  For more of his painting I suggest you search the internet under his name for images.

Rafael Coronel

The Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños in coordination with Lourdes Sosa Gallery, Black Coffee Gallery Foundation and private collectors of the artist Rafael Coronel present the exhibition Retrofutura II.  The 43 pieces in the exhibition, including oils, acrylics and bronze sculptures, which were previously displayed in the tribute exhibition on the occasion of his 80th birthday by the Palace Museum of Fine Arts in Mexico City.

Rafael Coronel was born in 1931 in Zacatecas and is younger brother of the painter and sculptor Pedro Coronel and son-in-law of Diego Rivera (1886-1957).  He well represents the Ruptura (Rupture) movement in Mexico, also known as Nueva Presencia (New Presence). The movement consisted of a shift away from heroic Muralism toward a more traditional way of art. Coronel created paintings that lacked the forceful social statements of the Muralists' works. Coronel's paintings are ambiguous and suggest that man's efforts to control his destiny are futile. His paintings of old men and women, isolated and floating in nebulous space, have a melancholic sobriety, and include faces from the past great masters, often floating in a diffuse haze.  His paintings contain echoes of Goya and José Clemente Orozco and achieve dramatic effects through a skilful use of chiaroscuro (an Italian term which literally means light-dark) and tenebrist effects (from the Italian word "tenebroso" meaning dark describes a style of painting characterized by deep shadows and distinct contrast between light and dark). The psychology of the characters is captured with accuracy, and their appearance is carefully depicted, but the background in which they appear imbues them with an air of timelessness.

The vocation of being a painter was something hereditary for Rafael. His grandfather used to decorate churches. When his father told him that pedro, his brother, was studying to become a painter in Mexico city, he though it was one of the greatest wastes of time, because painters got no money from painting, even the greatest painters in Mexico had to appeal to other jobs.  When Rafael went to Mexico City he wanted to be a soccer player but after he arrived he became interested in architecture. In 1952 he won a scholarship in a painting contest with a work done with crayons.

He has also assembled in Zacatecas, in the restored convent of San Francisco, an important collection of masks from all over Mexico.  He has lived in the city of Cuernavaca since 1981.  For more pictures from the exhibition please visit my picasa web album.

Museo del Palacio

The central panel of a mural by Arturo García Bustos depicts events in the independent era.

The former State Capital Building was remodeled and opened on March 21, 2008 as the Museo del Palacio Espacio de la Diversidad. Still commonly called the Palacio de Gobierno or Governor’s Palace, in joint collaboration with UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico), it hosts cultural activities, science exhibits, art exhibitions and entertainment. Its main façade, Doric in style and built from the green stone of Oaxaca, faces north, towards the Plaza de la Constitucion or Zocalo.

The interior is divided into three courtyards that have been covered with a tent roof to make it possible to use the space for exhibitions.  At the top of the main staircase there is an impressive mural painted in 1980 by the Mexican muralist Arturo García Bustos. The mural has three panels that depict historical and mythical events of Oaxaca City. The left wall expresses pre-Hispanic times, reflecting the customs and lifestyle of the Mixtec, Zapotec, and Mexica.  The right wall depicts the Spanish Conquest.  The central wall depicts events in the independent era including a picture of José Maria Morelos y Pavon, printing the first Oaxacan journal, "El Correo del Sur" [Southern Courier]. Other important Mexican heroes also appear here, such as: Benito Juárez, Margarita Maza, José Maria Morelos and Ricardo Flores Magon.

Under the stairwell you can find the world's largest Tlayuda, 3 meters across and made from 120 kilos of masa.

Likewise in the side stairs there is a second mural also painted by Arturo García Bustos in 1987 called Cosmogony of the indigenous peoples of Oaxaca. It covers the dome and walls of the staircase for the east patio and represents the formation of the universe, from the mythical view of the Hispanic cultures of Oaxaca. The central mural portrays water, fertility of the soil and education. The mural on the right depicts the tree of life, a woman, naked from the waist up with her waist loom, a sorcerer or high priest, the huge Monte Albán Plaza, and a scribe painting some codex. The left mural shows daily life in the Isthmus, a day at a marketplace, as well as some Huave fishermen from San Mateo del Mar, with their nets and musical instruments. There is also a portrait of the Huautla de Jimenez area, represented by the goddess of the soil and two priestesses dressed in traditional Mazatec attire, known as a Huipil.

In another area you can find historical documents of the life and work of Benito Juarez. The space is also used for art exhibitions. Outside it continues to be a focal point for protests despite no longer being the seat of government.  For the past 18 months the people of San Juan Copala have been camped here in protest.  For an update of what the current protest is about go here:  Oaxaca's "Occupier" Refugees Face Roadblocks on the Way Home.  

For more pictures of the interior and art exhibits go to my Picasa web album.

Santiago Carbonell

Santiago Carbonell is a Spanish artist who emigrated to Mexico in 1986.  Carbonell started painting with nineteenth-century realism and has now moved into the field of "modern" photorealism. 

He has mentioned that his work has evolved from the Renaissance tradition, in which technique and perfectionism are important to contemporary realism. The work of Carbonell catches with true virtuosity the texture of the skin, the spirit, the expression and the feeling. His nudes charge a very intense life.

This collection of Santiago Carbonell called "the disenchantment of beauty" is on display at the Museo de los Pintores in Oaxaca.  The collection shows the evolution of Carbonell in recent years. This collection includes the most recent works in which the author shows a sensitivity of beauty that shifts to disillusion, of nights of urban silence to the passivity of sands of the desert of Tunisia.

From the beauty of the eternal feminine that vicariously evokes 15th century, Madrid, to the young revolutionaries of the 21st century, struggling to change a world dominated by a minority elite, the iconography of Carbonell shows the possibility of how good and evil can coexist, making these come alive from his painting invites us to reflect, to and think.

This is just a small sample, I have more images in my picasa web album.  Santiago Carbonell's website is http://www.santiagocarbonell.com/

Galería Quetzalli

In 1986 Graciela Cervantes and Claudina López founded Galería Quetzalli.  For the past twenty-five years has promoted the most recognized artists of Oaxaca such as Francisco Toledo, Alejandro Santiago, Maximino Javier, and José Villalobos, and a select group of international artists.  They now have two spaces, the Galería Quetzalli at Constitución 104-1 and the Bodega Quetzalli at Murgía 400. Their website is http://galeriaquetzalli.com.

The bodega currently has an exhibition Jardin Etnobotanico de Oaxaca by Patrick Pettersson.  He was a guest artist in the resident artist program at La Curtiduría in July and August of 2008. The work, oil and engraving on wood, is from the residency.  You can see the engraving below in the lines on the leaves and flowers.  His website is http://www.patrickpettersson.info/.

Last year the galeria presented work by Trine Ellitsgaard.  She was born in Denmark and trained as a weaver there but now lives in Oaxaca.  Her work in textiles uses different materials such as paper, gold thread, horsehair and copper and other materials. "My life in Oaxaca" is a piece in which Ellitsgaard combines silk with plastic, in this there are many knots, the creator said that "life here is complicated, so the knots, if I pay the phone it is very complicated, everything is a knot that you have to open." Below the textile has been woven with silk and the supplementary weft is plastic.

Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca, MACO

The Museum of Contemporary Art (Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca, MACO) is housed in the so-called Casa de Cortés, three blocks north of the central plaza (Zócalo) at 202 Alcala Street.   The building is one of the oldest in the city but despite the name, the house dates from the later 17^th and early 18^th century well after Hernán Cortés.  It has been modified somewhat over the years but still conserves its basic layout with rooms surrounding three courtyards.  The latest renovation to update the building’s mechanical systems occurred starting in 2009 and ending in December of 2010.  The architectural style is basically Andalucian modified by Oaxaca traditions. The house was acquired by the state of Oaxaca and initially housed the Museo Historico Urbano de Oaxaca in 1986.  MACO was created with help from the state government, the José F. Gómez Foundation, painter Francisco Toledo and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes.  It permanent collection contains works by Rufino Tamayo, Toledo, Nieto, Aquinos and others, however most likely when you visit the space will exhibit current works.  If you go it is open daily except Tuesday from 10:30 am to 8 pm.  Their website is http://www.museomaco.com/.  For more pictures from the museum please visit my photo album.

Galeria Arte de Oaxaca

The historic center of Oaxaca is one of the most beautiful in Mexico and is a renowned tourist destination. Still beauty and historical value preserved only for tourism would be of little value if there were no one to transform the tradition and beauty in a living cultural awareness. One such place is the Galeria Arte de Oaxaca. Galeria Arte de Oaxaca was founded in 1987 with the help of famous Ocotlan artist Rodolfo Morales to promote young Oaxacan artists. Prominent among the artists of Oaxaca are Rufino Tamayo, Rodolfo Morales, Francisco Toledo, Filemon Santiago, Eddie Martinez, Cecilio Sanchez, Abelardo Lopez, Fernando Olivera, Rolando Rojas, Enrique Flores, and Amador Montes. For more than twenty years, Galeria Arte de Oaxaca has brought to light different expressions of the art of Oaxaca. Currently the Galeria Arte de Oaxaca is housed in an eighteenth century building. In 1996 the artist, Rodolfo Morales, purchased the house as the first property of the cultural foundation that bears his name specifically to house the Galeria Arte de Oaxaca. Cultural Foundation Rodolfo Morales AC, is an institution dedicated to the rescue of architectural and cultural heritage of the central valleys of Oaxaca, the restoration of historical monuments, the promotion of popular art, music and performing arts and the promotion of education of children and youth in the Ocotlán district of Oaxaca, and the preservation of local traditions.

Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991) was Zapotecan born in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. He moved to México City to attend the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas "San Carlos." Tamayo worked as a draftsman at the Museo Nacional de Arqueologia where he was exposed to the cultural wealth of pre-Colombian México. While his contemporaries were advocating art with a political message, Tamayo's work focused on plastic forms integrated with a masterful use of colors and textures. Tamayo devoted himself to creating an identity in his work, expressing what he believed was the traditional Mexico.

Rodolfo Morales (1925-2001) was a Mexican surrealist painter, who incorporated elements of magic realism into his work and is known for his brightly colored surrealistic dream-like canvases and collages often featuring Mexican women in village settings. He was notable for his restoration of historic buildings in Ocotlán. Morales shared mainly through his dedication to the study, preservation and enhancement of the traditional heritage of the region of Oaxaca.

Francisco Toledo, born in 1947, has the same attitude, the same spirit, the same concern to establish a continuum between past and present. He has also founded institutions for the recovery of cultural heritage. Considered one of the best living artists in Mexico, Toledo is a master printmaker, draftsman, painter, sculptor and ceramist. His art reflects a deep appreciation for the aesthetics of nature, particularly animals that are not conventionally associated with beauty (bats, iguanas, frogs, insects). The view of Toledo says the world of humans and animals are one with nature. His art is cut heavily with expressionism, tinged with black humor.

For more photos click here.