Category: Mexico

Postcard from Oaxaca, Mexico: Tattooed Museum Walls

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Museums in Oaxaca don’t shy away from exhibiting edgy work, and a show linking Dr. Lakra and Toño Camuñas at Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños proves no exception.

The tattoos on the bodies of both artists seem to spill onto their works on the walls. The comic-book-like drawings of Camuñas easily could be labeled pornographic. Dr. Lakra, née Jerónimo López Ramírez, began his career as a tattoo artist. His upward trajectory has included solo exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and The Drawing Center in New York City, where statue-topped pedestals dominating the exhibit in Oaxaca emerged.

Covering Lakra’s 2011 show for The New York Times, Carol Kino wrote:

“Lakra is a much more complex artist than people realize,” said his longtime art dealer and friend Jose Kuri, a partner in the Mexico City gallery Kurimanzutto. “It’s very easy to pigeonhole him as a tattoo artist who entered the art world with these tattoos on vintage magazines. But he’s really well-educated in classical painting and anthropology.”

… Born in Mexico City as Jerónimo López Ramírez, Dr. Lakra is the eldest son of the anthropologist and poet Elisa Ramírez Castañeda and the painter Francisco Toledo, one of Mexico’s towering cultural figures. (Mr. Toledo has had a hand in founding just about every cultural institution in his native Oaxaca.)

Dr. Lakra and his older sister, the conceptual artist Laureana Toledo, spent their childhood travelling around the world and continued visiting their father wherever he was living — New York, Paris, Barcelona — after their parents divorced in 1980. “My father took us to many, many museums,” Dr. Lakra said.

Postcard from Tlacochahuaya, Oaxaca, Mexico: The temple of the patron saint of librarians

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Having heard about the ornate ceiling of the Templo of San Jeronimo in the small town of Tlacochahuaya, we tried to scare up a priest to unlock its doors more than 20 years ago. No luck.

Since its 1991 restoration, gaining admittance is no longer an issue – ten pesos at the door.

Construction of the stunning Dominican church and its relatively modest convent dedicated to Saint Jerome, the well-read patron saint of librarians, was begun in 1586 atop Zapotec ruins. Zapotec bats carved into the base of some of the gilded columns are among the few symbols slipped into the church by the priests’ indigenous helpers.

A magical organ, supposedly with a stop that mimics the sound of songbirds, was added to a new choir loft around 1725.

One of the traditional seven-pointed star piñatas was suspended in the middle of the courtyard of the ex-convent0, but this one bore banners dangling from each point. Our driver said those listed what are known as the seven deadly sins, including envy, gluttony and sloth. When the blindfolded (the blindfold symbolizing faith) batter shatters it on the first of the year, those temptations are knocked out of the forecast for the coming year. The goodies spilling out of the piñata represent bestowal of blessings of heaven.

Not sure what it means that these particular temptations remained intact even after Three Kings’ Day. A temptation-filled year ahead for residents of Tlacochahuaya?

Postcard from Oaxaca, Mexico: Visiting a suburb of Monte Alban – Atzompa

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Our cab pulling into the parking lot immediately below the ruins of Atzompa made a total of four cars. Not much of a crowd for the high season of tourism in Oaxaca, but, for some reason, the Zapotec ruins of Atzompa are not yet included on the visitor map handed out at the information booth in front of the Cathedral. Guidebooks are only now catching up with the opening of the site to the public two or so years ago.

As a result, venturing there reminded us of the first time we climbed a winding road to Monte Alban more than 30 years ago; we virtually had the entire site to ourselves. An archaeologist and helpers were working on the uppermost plaza of Atzompa, where photography currently is forbidden.

With construction begun around the year 650, Atzompa was a satellite suburb of Monte Alban. Its equally lofty location with commanding views stretching across both the valley of Oaxaca and that of Etla offered additional security for Monte Alban.

In addition to ceremonial ball courts, including the largest one found in the region of Monte Alban, the site has remains of residential quarters for members of the upper class. The terraced hillside created an opportunity for several intimate groupings of buildings around central plazas and courtyards. A quarry atop the hill provided a convenient supply of building materials.

Evidence suggests the city was abandoned around the year 900.

Atzompa is a mere 20 minutes by cab from the center of Oaxaca. The posted entry fee is 10 pesos, well under a single dollar. But the guard at the gate required only our names, no pesos.