BEAUTY AND THE SOUL

Great beauty produces a rapture in the soul, and in the soul of an artist this rapture is more intense than it is in the soul of the average individual. When the artist produces a work of art which he considers to be beautiful it is because he is experiencing the rapture of the soul which compels him to express these emotions in his art. I’m sure Van Gogh felt this rapture when he looked upon a starry night. Gauguin must have felt it in Tahiti when he saw the harmony of man and nature. I feel this heightened rapture of the soul when I look at a young girl who is innocently unselfconscious of her loveliness.

Proverbial wisdom tells us that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there is an undeniable universal beauty in the world masterpieces of art, music, theater, and dance. We can define a masterpiece as that which has the universal power and beauty to move us more profoundly than an “ordinary” work of art. Great beauty stirs the soul to unknown depths of rapture while at the same time raising it to new heights of enlightenment. In short, great beauty is an enigma that moves the soul in ways we cannot understand.

THE ARTIST AND THE MODEL

As every art teacher will tell you, drawing from photographs is a bad habit. It is always better to draw from a live model. And with so many nude photos readily available on the web it is very hard to resist the temptation to use them.

Okay, fine, but when you’re an independent artist and models are hard to come by what do you do? Yes, you can join a figure drawing group with live models. I’ve done this many times but always found it unsatisfactory because I could not pose the models myself and had to accept the limited settings of a drawing studio when I would prefer to have my models in a natural environment. Also, and most importantly, an artist has to find a model with whom he has a rapport, one who inspires him and possibly has a good understanding of what he is trying to accomplish. After all, the artist-model relationship must grow out of trust and mutual understanding. You can’t have that with a random model who is posing in a classroom or a studio with several other artists present.

I use live models whenever I can, but I prefer to photograph them and do my preliminary sketching from the photos rather than have the models pose for hours in my studio. This approach has worked well for me, and I have to admit that I have used photos for some of my best work.

San Miguel has a limited number of good models, so if you’re a figurative painter, be prepared to use photos when you come to San Miguel to work.

REQUIEM FOR A CITY

A word of caution to artists who want to come to San Miguel to make a career for themselves. The demographics of this city have changed drastically over the last 5 years, and most of the expats from the US and Canada who are coming here are not very interested in art, education or culture. Some of the latest evidence to confirm this – three serious Lifelong Learning classes scheduled for this July and August have just been cancelled due to low enrollment. A friend of mine who was offering acting for beginners starting in June could not find enough students to fill the class. And even the two anchor institutions, Bellas Artes and the Instituto Allende, seem to be offering fewer and fewer art classes. Ditto for individual artists who teach here.

So be advised, dear artists – if you are in your 30s, 40s or 50s and want to make a living as a teaching-artist, go elsewhere. Go to Europe. Go to Florence, Paris, Berlin, or Barcelona, but do not come to San Miguel. More and more, the city is a place for retirees living on social security and small pensions, and they are people who lack the means and/or the desire to buy art.

I regret sounding so gloomy and pessimistic, but that’s my perception of what’s happening here. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think so. The city is in serious cultural decline and I don’t see it recovering its former “magic” any time soon.

THE STARVING ARTIST'S RESTAURANT GUIDE

Let me begin by saying this is not meant to be a comprehensive guide to the economical places to eat in San Miguel, but rather a selective list based on my own personal preferences. Artists in San Miguel who are on a limited budget due to retirement or simply because they are starting out in their careers and don’t have much income are always on the look-out for restaurants that offer good value for the peso.

I grew up in a family that prided itself on good home cooking. My grandparents were immigrants from Southern Italy who had done well for themselves in the US and could afford to eat out but preferred to their own cooking to the cuisine offered by most Italian-American restaurants in their home town of Hartford, Connecticut. They ate well at home during the Great Depression, and passed their expertise on to their six children. My parents continued the traditions. So I am very picky when it comes to eating out and refuse to pay more than I need to for a good meal. I don’t need to sit at a table with a white tablecloth, be served by waiters in white shirts and black bow ties, or need to have a fancy atmosphere with Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” playing over the sound system. Just give me good food for a fair price and I’m happy!

As a struggling writer in Montreal in the 1970s, I ate at the many restaurants in the Mile End and St. Denis area that offered wholesome ethnic foods from Eastern Europe as well as the standard French Canadian grub such as bean soup, meat pies, and poutine. I stayed away from anything that resembled the haute cuisine of France for financial as well as dietary reasons.

Okay, so what does San Miguel have to offer in the way of cheap restaurants with good food? Here’s my list:

MEXICAN ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT BUFFETS. These are run by families. The food is home-cooked in the traditional style of real Mexican food. You will usually find chicken or vegetable soup, mole, chicken tinga, pork dishes, eggs, beans and rice, nopales, a fried dish with potatoes, a green salad with many raw veggies, tortillas and a rich pudding for dessert. All you can eat for 65 to 80 pesos per person.

POLLO FELIZ (HAPPY CHICKEN). A national chain that is Mexico’s answer to Colonel Sanders, and much healthier! One-half a barbecued chicken with tortillas for 46 pesos.

LA COMER. A large commercial supermarket with an excellent deli that serves chicken, fish, chile rellenos, various other hot meals as well as many vegetables and rice. Tables for dining are at the front of the store.

EL ITACATE MEXICAN GRILL. Located in SMA’s mall, La Luciernaga, this restaurant has pozole, burgers, flautas, quesadilla, and other traditional foods. Nice atmosphere and friendly staff. Average price: 75 pesos.

CAFÉ MONET. Located on the fringe of Centro, this place has good soups, omelets, sandwiches, meats, and daily specials. Wonderful atmosphere with Victorian-style furniture, many original paintings, and a baby grand piano. Friendly staff. They haven’t raised their modest prices (70 pesos on average) in 8 years.

MANY SMALL RESTAURANTS AND CAFES RUN BY FAMILIES. These eateries are located all over the city and they offer basic home-style fare in a no-frills atmosphere. Mexican equivalent of the American neighborhood coffee shop. 

SIMPLICITY AND MINIMALISM IN SAN MIGUEL

Simplicity is the modus operandi for my wife and me. We live it every day in the choices we make about where to eat, shop, or simply relax. We do it by planning out our strategy for our daily activities. Our lives are much simpler and more manageable without a car, which we gave up 2 years ago in favor of a scooter to get us around town. If the sky looks dark and stormy or just pregnant with rain, we leave the scooter home and walk, knowing we can always take a bus or a taxi home if we feel worn out or if there’s a torrential downpour during the rainy season (roughly July to September).

In contrast to the traditional buildings and houses of San Miguel, our house is minimalistic. It’s made of brick and concrete covered with plaster and painted white inside with a mostly white exterior. Most of the houses in our neighborhood are similarly constructed with mostly white exteriors so that looking out from our rooftop terrace I’m struck by how much it resembles a village on a Greek island.

Our preference for interior design is also minimalistic. We decided not to drill holes or put nails or screws in the walls whenever we could avoid it, so the kitchen has one long shelf and a free-standing unit and all dishes, utensils and food are in drawers.  Some of my paintings rest on the top of a long bookcase. In furnishings, we favor mid-century modernism. This is also in contrast with the dominant décor of San Miguel’s casas, where the great majority of them are decorated in the traditional and rustic Mexican style. (If you rent a house here you will most likely get that type of décor)

The frustrating part of our minimalistic lifestyle is that good quality mid-century furniture is extremely hard to come by in Mexico, especially in San Miguel. There is a vintage furniture store in Mexico City that sells restored pieces (vintage-antic.mx), but as of this writing they have only a very limited inventory.

So if you have the same taste in décor, my advice is to bring pieces with you or plan to have them shipped to San Miguel.

"WE ARE SICK OF FRIDA"

Someone in town is holding an “I’m sick of Frida” fashion show. I couldn’t agree more. Some times I can imagine I hear a great cry going up from the city of San Miguel: "WE ARE SICK OF FRIDA!" Yes, we are sick and tired of the exploitation of Frida Kahlo. Time to let go and move ahead with something new. There are certainly many other equally important and interesting Mexican artists, artists such as Rufino Tamayo, Federico Cantu Garza, and Leonora Carrington .  Here's some biographical information about these artists courtesy of Wikipedia:

Rufino Tamayo (August 26, 1899 – June 24, 1991) was a Mexican painter of Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico. Tamayo was active in the mid-20th century in Mexico and New York, painting figurative-abstraction with surrealist influences.

Federico Heraclio Cantú Garza (March 3, 1907 – January 29, 1989) was a Mexican painter, engraver and sculptor. While considered to be a member of the Mexican muralism movement, his style was noticeably different, mostly for adhering to older and more academic forms of painting and sculpture. He had his most success exhibiting in the United States and Europe, but he did murals and sculptures in Mexico.

Leonora Carrington OBE (6 April 1917 – 25 May 2011) was a British-born Mexican artist, surrealist painter, and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City, and was one of the last surviving participants in the Surrealist movement of the 1930s. Leonora Carrington was also a founding member of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Mexico during the 1970s.

THE SAN MIGUEL GALLERY SYNDROME

1. Artists get together and talk about how to promote and sell their work. They decide to form a group with other artists.

2. This group becomes a cooperative business venture. They decide to open a gallery and share expenses.

3. With the usual hoopla, the gallery opens. They have an opening party with plenty of wine and botanas. The artists are in high spirits and optimism runs high.

4.  A few months later, attendance begins to decline. They decide to have more openings with wine and botanas. They are spending more money than they had been expecting. Hardly any work is sold as a result.

5. Feeling a little dismayed and disappointed, they decide to advertise.

6. With advertising, their expenses go up rapidly.

7. They decide to invite more artists to join their co-op in order to share expenses.

8. More openings with wine and botanas. Very little work is sold.

9. They decide they cannot afford more parties and advertising. Attendance drops off.

10. The group decides it must do something to bring in more money. Desperate, they offer art classes. More money is spent on advertising.

11. The art classes are only moderately successful, and they struggle to stay afloat in a fiercely competitive environment.

12. The members begin to despair. Some drop out. The original members remain. It begins to look hopeless. Finally, the gallery sinks beneath the waves with a last gasp and a whimper.