May I start by saying that photographing San Miguel de Allende’s new Urban Art Gallery in a highway underpass is best not done during Friday morning rush-hour traffic.
I mean, really, at how many art galleries can you say you take your life into your hands stepping out in front of a picture, trying to take a decent photograph?
Nevertheless, that is when I got there and that is when these photos were taken.
Continue reading
It is Day Three of San Miguel de Allende’s first-ever Urban Art Gallery and the creations of our 10 street artists show an incredible variety of tastes, styles, techniques, and mediums.
What was mere sketchy outlines on Monday, became splashes and dashes of color here and there on Tuesday and by 5 p.m. today, their full-blown visions were apparent in all their glory.
And this once graffiti-splattered underpass of the Libramente will never be the same.
Continue reading
If you are going to open up an art gallery these days, you may as well do it outside, right?
That is exactly what San Miguel de Allende’s Direction de Cultura Tradiciones is doing right now.
The city has invited 10 well-known street artists to put up their best work on the expansive concrete walls of the Libramente underpass called El Puente, located just south of Hospital H+.
The artists began yesterday, Nov. 24, and will paint through Thursday. Each artist has been provided with a 2-meter-by-4-meter space within which to work.
Continue reading
Back in the day — before Uber & Lyft, before Google street maps, before the Internet — there was a thing known as The Thomas Guide. It was a spiral-bound book of maps and street indexes for many of the major West Coast cities in the U.S.
It was a godsend for journalists and taxicab drivers alike.
Toronto had a similar book, as I discovered one night when I arrived to cover the Toronto Film Festival for my California newspaper.
“Where to, eh?
“Sutton Place,please.”
“Good, good. Is that cab in front of us going there, too?”
“No, they’re going to another hotel.”
“Good, good. OK. Sutton Place. That’s not far. Do you know where it is?”
“No. Don’t you?”
“Yeah. Well, no. Well, sort of. I usually work the West End. Don’t get up here that much.”
“Um … Bay Street. I think it is on Bay Street.”
“Bay Street? Good. Good. Bay Street. Bay Street. Right you are.”
“I think it is a main thoroughfare here. North and south.Turn here on University. You’re bound to cross it.”
“OK. Yeah. Right you are. Here, look in this book, page four. Got to be on page four or near it. Look on four.”
“There’s no map on four.”
“What do you mean? No! Index. Look at the index. You read; I’ll drive.”
“I can’t find a map. Look here, there’s Bay Street! If you turn here, we ought to find Sutton Place.”
“I can’t turn. See the sign? It says ‘No left turn.’ You really ought to learn how to read that book. You can get anywhere with in this city with that book, you can. Ah, I’ll turn anyway.”
“Why do I need to read this book? I’ll be leaving Toronto in two days. You live here. You learn it.”
“Sure, but what if you come back? You really ought to learn.”
“You ought to learn. You live here, you drive the cab!”
“Right you are!”
“Look, there’s the Sutton. Just drop me off behind that car.”
“Right! The old Sutton! There you are! I got you here, didn’t I? You really ought to get one of these books. Invaluable! Fare’s $4.25. Told you I’d get you here. Well, have a good evening then.”
“Right. Keep the change.”
True story.
The musician David Byrne was asked in the New York Times which subjects would he like to see more authors write about.
I liked his answer.
“I’ll turn it around — most writers should avoid writing about writers as their main characters. I know, I know, ‘write what you know.’”
Continue reading
Remember when your friends were nominating you to do stuff on Facebook that you wouldn’t dream of ever doing on your own?
Things like, “post the album covers of the seven LPs that changed your life.” And, “post the covers of 10 books that made you who you are today.” And, oh, whatever.
I can’t recall because I just don’t do that sort of thing.
Continue reading
In case you don’t know, this is not Moppit.
This is Moppit:
What do these two dogs have in common?
Continue reading
A pandemic of new murals all over San Miguel de Allende, many with iconic images from pop culture and high art, carry a simple message: Put on a mask.
If Frida, Vincent van Gogh, Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” Klimt’s stylish “Lady in Gold,” and da Vinci’s mysterious “Mona Lisa” and her Botero-esque alter-ego can put on masks — and look fabulous — so can we.
That’s the hope, anyway, of the city’s Directorate for Culture and Tradition which has sponsored the creation of the 10 murals.
Continue reading