Tag Archives: murals

photography, San Miguel de Allende, Writings

Step out for a cup of coffee in San Miguel and you could easily walk right into the dreams of others — if you believe in the magic

Maríela López González and her first mural in San Miguel de Allende, titled “El nacimiento del Sol y la Luna”.

You set out to get a quiet cup of coffee in the morning and by noon you are sitting down with two incredibly talented artists, discussing their work, their dreams, their ambitions.

That, my friends, is the magic of San Miguel de Allende.

That cup of coffee turned out to be not so quiet as I ended up at an outdoor cafe table with some of my Golosos pals — Efrain, Robert, Ben, Scott, and Colin. They’d been booted out of their regular haunt — guilty of possession of a couple of yipping dogs.

The proprietor told them that animals were now forbidden in food establishments by the city.

Hmmm.

Well, maybe noisy dogs. 

Continue reading →
Standard
San Miguel de Allende

Four days: A gallery is created, an obscure corner of San Miguel is transformed

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 →
Standard
San Miguel de Allende

Urban Art Gallery takes shape in a San Miguel highway underpass

The artist Eduardo (right) gained the help of Kansineede Graef, an artist from the Netherlands who heard about the Urban Art Gallery and volunteered.
Merle Herrera has made stunning progress in a day as her image comes to life. ————————————————————————–

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 →
Standard
San Miguel de Allende

At first brush: San Miguel’s open-air Urban Art Gallery is many strokes of creative genius

The south wall of the Urban Art Gallery at the El Puente underpass in San Miguel de Allende on Tuesday morning as the artists were just arriving to resume painting their murals.

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 →
Standard
San Miguel de Allende, Writings

Up against the wall: 10 San Miguel de Allende murals with a message to mask up

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 →
Standard
Rants and raves, San Miguel de Allende, Writings

Murals with a message say it loud: I mask-up and I’m proud

Frida is cool with wearing a mask. Just ask her. New Mural on 28 de Abril, just up the street from Orizaba.

_______________________________________________________________

Masks as art in the window of Abrazos, the fabric store on Zacateros.

A cynic might say there are more murals, statues and pictures wearing masks in San Miguel de Allende than actual people.

I wouldn’t know.

Lately, the only people I hang out with are murals, statues, and pictures. And they all seem to be wearing masks.

Which is why I prefer their company to that of people who will not wear masks. They even look smarter than people without masks.

Continue reading →
Standard