Mythmakers Art Show
Pilsen, the sound of it sounds like a good beer. Actually it is the good ole' Mexican-American community it's been a cultural hub known for its influx of galleries giving rise to a bustling Chicago Art District...it's a shame that being a Chicagoan and artist who emigrated here in the late 80s, it was actually my first time to meander around the area and actually stop. Cafe Mestizo was the host of our show entitled Mythmakers at 1738 W. 18th Street, just west of the CTA's pink stop. Leo, the proprietor of Cafe' Mestizo actually offered me my first Cafe' Azteca. My new bragging rights for what I call "Chocoffee"...
Curated by noted Chicago artist and curator Teresa J. Parker of Benedictine University since 2005, she asked me to be a part of this eclectic show. Works being featured here are from well-shown local and international photographers and printmaker and fortunate to be among them as the lone painter.
Teresa Parker's works show sensitive figurative drawings pertaining to women's breasts as she incorporate what she calls "Milagros" as artistic prayers...Beatrice K. Turner whose powerful and evocative black and whites of self-portrait from her own pinhole camera...John Sevigny's works selections from his 'El Muerto Pare el Santo' (figurative) and from his formal 'Circles' photography series hinting socio-politico-spiritual concerns from the war-torn Mexico...Guillermo Medina Ramos' exploration of the male body (his own) in rich black and white representing as one of Mexico's brightest and upcoming photographer...Henri Augusto Mandujano Rojas' photographic abstractions exploring existentialists' and symbolists' sensibilities from Mexico...and last but not least is Susana Veloz's photographs of photography of collages of torn photos with formal and popular images forming powerful images evoking haunting and subjects reflecting her homeland, Mexico.
The opening show (Feb 3) show went on until the wee hours of the night, that's when it became alive with rhythms from this local band named KARPAH while Leo's son Diego (12) can be seen showing his skills as he play his Diabolo (like a spinning top with sticks and strings)...friendly people just chilling and enjoying Friday night. Many browsing the arts, checking the internet on the lone computer on the desktop by the bar area...
Ah...Pilsen. Better than a beer I supposed. It's just good to be here with the locals listening to each other's stories as the dim lighted but enticing ambiance of Cafe' Mestizo boasts of urbanity, coffee and of course, art.
These works will adorn Cafe Mestizo's brick and wood paneled walls until March 15.
For more information on the Mythmakers show, please contact Teresa J. Parker (art curator) at:
tparker43318@yahoo.com or Eulalio Fabie de Silva at: efdesilva@gmail.com
