Postcard from Oaxaca, Mexico: Ceramics, film posters and photographs fill former convent

Above, plate by Rafael Jimenez on exhibit in “Ceramica de la Familia Jimenez” at Centro Cultura San Pablo

Opening his own workshop in Oaxaca in 1925, Ignacio Jimenez soon realized that the talavera technique he had learned for applying paint did not work with the finer clay he desired using. Seeking a solution, he developed a new method for adding decorative designs and color to clay – ceramica escurrida, best translated as “drained” ceramics.

The skills he perfected were passed on to his wife and children, and his distinctive style continues to flourish as the Taller de Ceramica de la Familia Jimenez. His children employ the technique to create traditional patterns as well as their own more contemporary artistic designs.

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Postcard from Merida, Mexico: Incorrigible cats and other fine ‘arte popular’

arte popular merida

Okay, the blog obviously has left Italy. Am diving you straight into Merida in the Yucatan for a dose of fine contemporary folk art from throughout Central and South America, but primarily Mexico, from the collection of Fomento Cultural Banamex, Citibanamex. Click HERE to see additional photos and read the entire post.

Postcards from Naples, Italy: Palazzo adapted to showcase contemporary art

Mimmo Paladino, 2006 rooftop installation at MADRE

The 19th-century Palazzo Donnaregina, referred to as “an example of historical stratification,” was purchased in 2005 by the Campania Regional Government for rehabilitation as a contemporary art museum. Much of the work was completed under the guidance of Alvaro Siza Veira, a Portuguese architect. By 2006, two floors of MADRE – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina – opened to the public. Daniel Buren’s brightly colored and illuminated installation in the entryway of MADRE sets the tone for the contemporary contents.

When we were there this past fall, there was an impressive exhibition of work, “Whisper Only To You,” by a South Korean artist, Yeesookyung. During her residency in Naples, she incorporated pieces of Capodimonte porcelain into the design of her large shapely vessels.

The master potter was trying to create the perfect piece each time, and he would discard even the ones with the slightest flaw. So I chose to create new forms from them, because perhaps, I don’t believe completely in that kind of perfection. To me, a piece of broken ceramic finds another piece, and they come to rely on one another. The cracks between them symbolise the wound.

Yeesookyung, interviewed in The Business Times, 2013