Photo ABCs

Polo's Fine Art Gallery: Rosarito Beach

Exciting news!

Yesterday I dropped off photographs at Polo's Fine Art Gallery in Popotla, the art and furniture neighborhood south of Rosarito Beach in Baja California.

The gallery, established in 1990, is a showroom of regional art by dozens of talented artists, including the owner, Polo Valencia, and other local artists such of Becris Armando.

The walls are chock-full of art from floor to ceiling. It is not a "stuffy" formal gallery, rather a celebration of the vibrant regional art scene and the colors of Mexico.

Here is Polo hanging my work "Eleven Turkey Vultures" which was photographed south of San Felipe, in Baja California.

Above it is a photograph from my recent trip to Mexico City for Day of the Dead.

Polo's Gallery is located at kilometer 33 of the free road from Tijuana to Ensenada, across the street from Xploration Studios where the movie Titanic was filmed. Polo has stories of various movie stars who have purchased art at his gallery. If you visit the fun town of Rosarito, or are on your way to or from Ensenada, stop by Polo's Fine Art Gallery!

Day of the Dead, Mexico City Style V

On the last night of my stay in Mexico City, I ventured to the town center of Coyoacán, where there was an enormous Day of the Dead festival.

I was more than a bit fatigued from my week in Mexico City, especially my last two days of early morning birding and late nights photographing Day of the Dead!

Though I only managed a few decent photos, I was pleased with them.

A young girl enjoys a carnival ride:

A face in the crowd:

The most spectacular catrina I saw during the week:

I'm already planning next year's Day of the Dead trip. It won't be to Mexico City... Though I'm glad I went, I won't be enduring Mexico City crowds and traffic any time soon!

Stay tuned about this time next year for more photos!

Day of the Dead Mexico City Style IV

On November 1 I traveled to San Andrés Mixquic, a small town located about ten miles south of Mexico City.

San Andrés Mixquic is said to be one of the towns used to model the church and cemetery in the wonderful movie Coco, so it was the place I most wanted to visit during my week in Mexico City.

I did not find it as magical as the movie. The cemetery had no family members around the graves as one would find in Michoacán or Oaxaca. Basically, half of Mexico City was there shoulder to shoulder for a Day of the Dead experience. Of course, that was also why I was there!

Here are a few scenes from Mixquic:

Claudia models a phenomenal outfit, complete with lights, in front of the church.

Allison:

Eli:

The marigold, or cempasuchil, of course, is the traditional flower of Day of the Dead.

They were abundant in Mixquic's cemetery:

 

 

Day of the Dead, Mexico City Style III

Xochimilco is on the southern outskirts of Mexico City and is a popular tourist spot with its canals.

I headed to its town square on October 31, where Day of the Dead festivities were occuring.

Here is Alma, heading out of the costume shop where she was transformed into a magnificent calavera: (calavera means skull, but has come to mean the entire skeleton, as first characterized in Jose Guadalupe Posada's caricatures of the vain rich)

Renata:

Her sister Rebecca:

Claudia:

Day of the Dead, Mexico City Style II

A few years ago the James Bond movie, SPECTRE, featured a huge Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City.

This parade was NOT a Mexico City tradition. Since the movie came out, the parade is NOW a new tradition!

Mexico City has approximately 25 million people.

I'd say 24,999,999 must have been lining the five-mile parade route!

I arrived three hours early, yet the crowd lining the route was already more than six people deep.

Three hours before the event, this mob of people streamed towards the Zócalo, Mexico City's central square, where the parade would end:

There's always time for a selfie:

Here comes the parade, get out your cell phone!

This lovely young lady was a hostess at a restaurant along the parade route:

A girl named Maola, in the Zócalo after the parade:

Halloween and Day of the Dead have become somewhat mixed in recent years. Here is "Daddy's Lil Monster" after the parade. Throughout Mexico City many storefront security doors are painted by talented artists. This one made an interesting backdrop:

Heading home after the parade:

Day of the Dead: Mexico City Style I

I spent the week surrounding Day of the Dead this year in Mexico City.

Day of the Dead takes place on November 1 and 2, however, it has evolved into a week-long celebration in many parts of Mexico.

The San Angel neighborhood of Mexico City has an art market each Saturday, which draws a large crowd. Saturday, October 29 drew many in their Day of the Dead finest!

Here is Daniela, midway through her face-painting:

Miranda:

Maria José:

Luis:

Mélani:

Fernanda:

I'll be posting more photos of Day of the Dead for the next few days, stay tuned!

Festival de las Calaveras, Aguascalientes

Each year, the Festival de las Calaveras in Aguascalientes ends with a parade. The parade route was jam-packed with spectators 5-deep for a solid mile.

This year's theme was The Golden Age of Mexican Cinema.

All of the floats represented, calavera-style, legendary movie stars from the 1940s and 50s.

A few of my favorites:

Pedro Infante (1917-1957) sang with a velvet voice, and charmed all of the women in Mexico (many of them personally!). He tragically died at age 39 in a plane crash:

Maria Felix (1914-2002) known as La Doña, starred in 47 films. Her second husband was composer Agustin Lara, who composed a song about her, Maria Bonita:

Jorge Negrete (1911-1953) along with Pedro Infante and Javier Solis was one of the three great male Mexican voices of his time:

Dolores del Río (1904-1983) was a star in Hollywood before becoming the most famous actress in the history of Mexican cinema:

Antonio Aguilar (1919-2007) was a hugely influential singer, actor, and charro, who married actress Flor Silvestre, was the father of singer Pepe Aguilar, and grandfather of Angela Aguilar. I love this float!

More Day of the Dead: Aguascalientes

More photos from the 2021 Festival de las Calaveras/Día de los Muertos in Aguascalientes, Mexico:

 

 

 

 

A vampire heads home:

Day of the Dead: Aguascalientes

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a tradition that grows stronger the further south you go in Mexico, strongest in the states of Michoacán and Oaxaca.

In Aguascalientes, located at the geographical center of Mexico, the tradition comes alive with the Festival de las Calaveras, which honors José Guadalupe Posada and his creation of the Calavera Catrina (see the post prior to this one).

While the cemeteries in town are busy with observance of Day of the Dead, the historic center of town is jammed with tens of thousands of people enjoying food, concerts, arts and crafts expositions, bullfights, parades, and dressing as skeletons.

Here are a few photos from the historic center and one of the nearby cemeteries.

Lizbeth Rubio, one of the princesses of the 2021 Feria de San Marcos, one of the largest annual fairs in Mexico:

A girl gets the finishing touches of her face painting, while another waits for her white base layer to dry:

"Can we hurry this up, please?"

A handsome couple:

 

Vanessa, who came from Colombia to enjoy Día de los Muertos in Aguascalientes:

Valentina:

More to come tomorrow!

Museo José Guadalupe Posada

Despite his name being nearly unknown today, José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) was one of the more influential Mexican artists of the last 150 years, whose influence continues to grow.

He was a graphic artist, political cartoonist, lithographer, engraver, and produced illustrations for countless publications and books in Aguascalientes (his birthplace), León, and Mexico City.

He is best known for his satirical cartoons and his depictions of skeletons, or calaveras. These calaveras poked fun at politicians, as well as at the vanities of the Mexican aristocracy, and indeed, of the vanities of the living!

The calaveras were featured in murals by Diego Rivera, who once stated that Posada's art was "so great that perhaps one day his name will be forgotten!"

His most famous skeleton was dubbed the Calavera Catrina, whose likeness inspired the whole culture of dressing as skeletons for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

In 1972 a museum dedicated to Posada was opened in the historic Encino neighborhood of Aguascalientes. It is housed in the former cloisters of the church El Señor del Encino.

His legacy is not forgotten in Aguascalientes, for an entire festival, El Festival de las Calaveras, is dedicated to him and his calaveras. The festival began in 1994, and is attended by tens of thousands who descend upon the city each year during the week surrounding Day of the Dead. The historic town center comes alive with concerts, parades, bullfights, and carnivals.

The very modern facade of the José Guadalupe Posada Museum, with the adjoining Church of El Señor del Encino:

His Calavera Catrina adorns the front of the museum:

A portrait bust of the artist:

The courtyard:

The illustration that started the Calavera tradition, housed within the museum:

More calaveras:

“La muerte es democrática, ya que a fin de cuentas, güera, morena, rica o pobre, toda la gente acabaría siendo calavera”.

"Death is democratic. At the end, whether you are white, dark, rich or poor, everyone ends up a skeleton." Jose Guadalupe Posada