winter colours

Snow is here, and with it, the colours and sounds of winter are amplified. This is our fourth winter in Toronto, and each year, the phenomenon of snow  continues to captivate us all at home. I love to hear E running down the stairs yelling "it's snowing, it's snowing!"

We enjoy taking walks while the snow is still "untouched", ankle deep and fun, before it turns into a muddy, slushy mess.

First and last images are views from E's bedroom window. The other two, are from our walks.

Crisp, clean, glorious winter days = palettes galore! Here are a few.

From our backyard.

White truly transforms it all.

As of late, I have been paying too much attention to hydrants,
so much so, that I think they are about to become the new pears!

Urban winter palettes: Unexpected, distinctive.

Another day... another year! Almost. I want to sign-off with a good song, a merry song, commemorating 2012 in the company of this highly energetic and creative duo, Pomplamoose.

Pomplamoose, Another Day, released in 2010.

beyond Frida y Diego

There is no doubt in my mind that Frida and Diego helped shed a lot of the positive cultural light under which Mexico found itself in the first half of the 1900's. From the ground up, they built a very favourable and transcendental perception regarding Mexican art. Nonetheless, there are some reservations to this story, considering Mexican art  acquired an extremely narrow-minded attitude through the prodigious years of the "Mexican School of Painting"* that took at least 4 decades to forgo. This  shake-up was  spearheaded by the young and rebellious artists** of the second half of that century (the "rupture" or "break" generation). 

The casualties of these kerfuffles, as it is the history of humanity, were our female artists. Unbelievably enough, Rivera being the main bully: A female muralist? Nonsense! And Frida somehow overshadowed them all. Why her? Come to think of it then, why not her?
The fact of the matter is that little is known regarding other very talented women artists residing in Mexico, both during the times of the hegemonic MSP* and the years when the status quo was challenged**.

The names of these womenfolk came to my attention in the late eighties and early nineties, when (thankfully) many exhibitions about their body of work could be found in Mexico City. The most memorable ones, personally: Maria Izquierdo, Leonora Carrington, Olga Costa, Lilia Carrillo, Irma Palacios, Remedios Varo, Elena Climent. The latter two my absolute favourites.

From left to right: 1-María Izquierdo, Naturaleza viva, oil on canvas, 1946. 2-Leonora Carrington (born in England), Self portrait, oil on canvas, ca. 1937-1938. 3-Olga Costa (born in Germany), La vendedora de frutas, oil on canvas, 1951.

From left to right: 1-Lilia Carrillo, Premonición, acrylic on canvas, 1970.  2-Irma Palacios, Delta, aquatint, 2003.

From left to right: 1-Remedios Varo (born in Spain), La creación de las aves, oil on masonite, 1958. 2-Elena Climent, Sotorefront, oil on linen, 1992.

Remedios Varo has always been at the top of my list, the master of all masters in my book. Recommendation: In the late 80's, Janet A. Kaplan authored a magnificent book on Remedios Varo, Unexpected Journeys, unfortunately out of print. A fascinating life, a mystifying artist.

The one lesson taken from this week's journey is that I truly don't know much about female or male Mexican artists born after 1980--peccato! Note to self: Learn more about contemporary Mexican art.

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*Escuela Mexicana de Pintura: Orozco, Siqueiros, Rivera, Covarrubias, Murillo (Dr. Atl), et al.

**Generación de la Ruptura: García Ponce, Cuevas, Felguérez, Gerzo, Mérida, Goeritz, Gironella, et al.

art inspired: Frida y Diego

From 1995 to 1998, F and I had the privilege of living in Coyoacán, Frida Kahlo's neighbourhood in Mexico City. During this time, visits to her house ("La Casa Azul") turned into weekly pilgrimages to this sanctuary of sorts, where I could be found sitting or ambling in tranquil reverie. Her very ingenious talent was ever present, as was the clear connection between her work and the sense of self and place inherent to her pieces. This awareness often sparked a powerful feeling of certainty, never experienced in any other place and every so often, I miss it.

Yesterday, an inkling of that "Casa Azul" notion was recaptured while visiting the exhibit "Frida and Diego, Passion, Politics and Painting". The AGO brought  my Coyoacán back to me, if only for a little while. Though Toronto is home now, the show reminded me of how much I yearn for the explosive and overdramatic cultural scene in Mexico. MÉXICO, vibrant* custodian of prodigious talent.

I like Frida and Diego (Rivera) a lot, and in all honesty, I enjoy them even more on their own and without their politics. Diego's early pieces from his Paris years (ca.1911-1920) are simply incredible, reflecting the obvious influence of the very good company he was keeping while at Montparnasse (Modigliani, Foujita, Chagall and Picasso, to name a few--I can't even begin to imagine what those years must have been like!). My absolute favourite Rivera is from this period, "The Mathematician", in the collection of the Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño, and currently visiting Toronto (!!!!). Enthralling and quiet wonderment. Brilliant.

Regarding Frida's work, it is hard to decide on a particular favourite. My preferred images, however, came as very pleasant surprises through the lens of Nickolas Muray. I had seen these portraits of Frida plenty of times in postcards and books, but never had the chance to see the actual prints, until yesterday. They are stunning--the saturation and contrast of the colours are mesmerizing. Plus she looks so content, and her hands are beautiful, it seems silly, but I had never noticed them before.

In my opinion, it is important to elaborate on the impact and influence this gifted duo had in Mexican painting, I just need to better organize my thoughts so that they may be set forth succinctly and eloquently, in no way a lecture, but rather, a somewhat informed (I'm no expert) opinion.

For the time being, the song of the day is La Cumbia del Mole. I kept thinking about it throughout my visit to the Gallery. Lila Downs was introduced to me by F in 2007, when we were back in Mexico City. She is a formidable musician and artist, with an unmistakable speck of Frida in her. Seemingly, there is a smidgen of Frida in all us.

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EMI music is pretty clear about its copyright policies, so in order to avoid problems, I will not post the video. However, click here to view it in youtube with EMI's blessing (Lila Downs, La Cumbia Del Mole, in her album "La Cantina", EMI 2006). Vibrant* is the operative word. 

wabi-sabi perfection

It has been a while since I wanted to write about wabi-sabi, a concept I was first introduced to by a dear friend (DF), in those days my professor in grad school. This awe-striking descriptor refers to the beauty of the imperfect, the exquisiteness of the raw and honest elements within most hand crafted objects. The difference between wabi-sabi and poor quality work is that any object withholding a wabi-sabi spirit is imperfect, yet retains a grace and contemplative serenity that elevates it to a sui generis plane.

Sometimes when one of my prints does not work well, I look at it with very critical eyes,  determining if it is wabi-sabi or just bad craftsmanship. In general, I write them off as unusable, yet, sometimes, I do recognize the allure in the virtuous flaw.
Leonard Koren's book Wabi-Sabi For Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers provides a good overview of wabi-sabi, my only misgiving about recommending this book is that it does not end, but rather abruptly stops, leaving the reader (or at least me) a bit disconcerted.

In truth, I have discovered the perfect embodiment of wabi-sabi in my E's work. She is a ceramist, a potter, and at 13, a very talented one. Yes, this is mom speaking, but still, her ability is immediately recognizable. On Saturday (December 8) she held her first fund-raiser for Free The Children, pledging to donate all proceeds to this exceptional organization with which she has been involved since late summer, and I am delighted to report she did splendidly. Not only did E sell all of her pieces (at different price ranges), but received the undeniable support of those who stopped by the youth vendors at City of Craft, a very positive experience to all young artists.

Her work is developing, and she is not afraid to experiment, unknowingly embracing the true nature of wabi-sabi, resulting in extraordinarily dainty pieces. These are a few examples of her work from my personal collection.