Hasta luego, Merida

            Today after school a few of us went to the Museo MACAY (Modern And Contemporary Art of the Yucatan). Now first of all, I was not expecting Merida to even HAVE a contemporary art museum, let alone one that impressed me this much. It was located in an alley alongside El Catedral, hidden away from the ignorant eye, in a building reminiscent of the Palacio. Each room around the courtyard had a different exhibition in it, of which I got a few pictures of secretly ;] There were two exhibits I liked most: one was a black and white impressionistic exhibit full of acrylic and charcoal on canvas, as well as a few color pieces of landscapes – mainly ocean and sunset. But my absolute favorite exhibition was by an artist named Benjamin Dominguez. This man was so offensive that it was pure genius. His first room was a series of oils done in an angel motif; these were not traditional angels by any means however. Each painting had gold leafing and a striped scarf in it somewhere, and all were titled “la angel de musica” or my favorite title “la angel de Polaroid.” The Polaroid angel was painted holding a polaroid of herself in the exact position she was painted in. She wore a camera around her neck and held the striped scarf around it with one hand while the other clasped the photo. The angel of music was wearing a silver half comedia mask, and being a theatre person it makes me think of the symbolism behind comedia masks. I had to wear one this year for A Bright Room Called Day when I played Comrade Traum. This was meant to dehumanize me and distance me from the audience’s sentiment; the purpose I served was to relay a message and a purpose: I was a mockery of the communist party’s inability to unify their thoughts. So why would an artist paint his subject in a mask meant to hide her humanity? Is the point of a painting to evoke emotion or not? Shouldn’t the viewer be able to identify with the sentiment in the media’s message? This artist obviously wanted the audience to see his message rather than think on the beauty of his technique or the sparkle in his angel’s eyes. In my opinion, this has to be the most effective way of presenting art – it forces your audience to think for themselves about the matters you’re presenting. For example, one of the paintings in this series depicted Dominguez’s rendition of Original Sin. It had two surreal nude figures painted against a cloudy black background. “Eve” was presenting “Adam” with a wrought iron chalice while standing her right foot on a clear glass globe. Adam was depicted standing with his feet shoulder width apart looking at the chalice almost longingly, and painted as shadows running from his feet to his head were the signs of the zodiac – Pisces were beside his feet, Capricorn was at his ankle. Above which followed Saggitarius, Scorpio, Libra, etc. until at his head Taurus sat boldly amongst his hair. Behind Eve stood a serpent figure, obviously depicting Satan and his influence in Eve’s decision to offer Adam the “apple”. I stood in front of this painting, utterly amazed at the genius subtleties that Dominguez inflicted upon this work. I really wish the museum would have sold prints or even books of the artist’s exhibited; I cannot wait to find something of this back home to display. His second series was in a separate room: a motif in an old Victorian-style bedroom with a small circular mirror in the background. These displayed a series of events in a couple’s life: it followed their progress from love to the torture of an arranged marriage to adultery to the devil’s influence to the sin and familiar disappointment. There were a few paintings that depicted the subjects getting tattooed. I’m not sure what Dominguez actually meant by the tattooing but a good portion of his painting displayed and romanticized inked subjects. Perhaps he meant something by the coy fish and Japanese style in which they were all decorated in, maybe not. But the statement of tattooed figures in a typically Biblical era made a statement.

            When I thought of Mexican art, I never stopped to think that their art would be along the same lines as ours back home. I never thought that in a country where 75% of the population is devout Catholics, one could find blasphemous art displayed in three rooms of a museum in colonial Merida. Well Señor Dominguez, thank you for opening my eyes to a completely different side of Mexico. Art is something that one can appreciate regardless of language or background, but I really do believe that it takes a certain type of genius to present such controversial specific issues with such perfect exposition. A formal debate could be constructed from these works hung so strategically on the walls of MACAY, I really encourage you all to Google his art.

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