By: Dayma Crespo Zaporta
That night the collector did not sleep. The idea that the country that gave birth to Diego and Frida would welcome our engravers made him feel chills, responsibility weighing on his shoulders reminded the myth of the titan Atlas. Feedback from technical procedures and creative experiences to take place there gave free rein to his imagination and, then, he was decided. The next day, without even thinking, he said yes to Mexico and embarked fifty graphic works of dissimilar nature, born of talented genius of many generations who have transformed an old and musty warehouse into a magno Experimental Graphics workshop.
Already in Mexico, the pieces were placed in the immaculate walls of a crowded gallery. It was at the opening moment, when the engravings took life and began to speak publicly declaring its intentions, prompting its authors to create them, and to demonstrate that it is possible the survival of the schizophrenic maelstrom at the postmodern times.
The collector had devoted exclusively to engraving for some time, it involved among members of the workshop and felt that was part of that jovial union of artists. The stone worked gave him feeling, hence lithography reigned in the room. However, it was not all conservative and therefore gambled both younger and more contemporary as collagraph techniques.
Each engraving there present was a true poetic expression of its author. The anthropological syncretism of Rolando Vázquez see what we are left without lapsing into cheap stereotypes. The visceral heart over so many lifelines are tended was just his way of capturing much of our character representing religion and the need to enrich it to achieve its preservation over time. The surreal and amorphous character of Luis Lara was becoming somewhat androgynous, while expressionist, because the handle crushed brains that made him blind emitted a silent cry of pain, while his chest was bleeding only accordingly.
Carlos del Toro gave life to some fantastic creatures that seemed to have escaped from a rural legend. Lam imprint was felt both in color and in the recreation of a magical universe, but it was different, had its own aura. Nelson Dominguez had an unconventional landscape, where a black haze blurred the boundaries between land, mountains and sky. That lithography, no doubt, had something special, despite the black values that were invading and animal ravenous who acted as protagonist, something indescribable in it emitted peace, and once inaugurated the exhibition viewers was fascinated.
Skulls by Julio Cesar Peña caused sensation, he was sure, because they were a kind of intertextuality with works by Catrinas Posada and a direct allusion to the tradition of the “Day of the Dead“. Peña had a prodigious imagination, knew to give drink to the death delicious spoonfuls of sarcasm and thus it back “dramatically” playful.
Zarza, always faithful to his cattle, established violent contrasts of color, where red and yellow were protagonists. The old bullfighting was an obsession of his present and therefore he reinterpreted it at will. His pieces gave to the collector a strange feeling of sweetness blended with violence, and by then, he had already learned that when an artist can produce feelings it is because it witnessing a true work of art. Figuration not pervaded the entire gallery space, as young artists like Octavio Irving flirted with abstractionism in an act of formal experimentation with the object. Earthy tones and subjugated him so his decision was out of chromaticism to become slightly traditional.
Then came the day of the inauguration. The collector felt an ecstasy that surpassed him, his dream was realized and it was time to deliver his opening speech. The passion for engraving came over him and his words flowed image and likeness of the most melodic song. He stayed, from the bottom of the gallery watched the joy of viewers against the works, and he was a witness of the acceptance of Cuban poetry by Mexican public. He left the show sneaking toward the garden, he sat in front of the fountain and then felt overwhelmed, the emotion was stronger than his desire to control it, the internationalization of our art gave him the feeling of accomplishment. It was time to leave …