You see them on the news and in the Belize Times, but all those high brow,
high tech art shows at the Image Factory don't pull a very big audience here
in Belize City.
But take them to Mexico, and it's another story...that's what a group of
5 Belizean artists found out when they visited Concal, a town just north of
Merida City this weekend for a show called landings which combines the best
contemporary artists of Latin America and the Caribbean. As we found out, Belize
held its own among powerhouse players.
Built in 1694, this monastery in Concal, Mexico just north of Merida was the
staging ground not for Sunday mass, but a full out artistic assault by 25 artists
from Latin America and the Caribbean including Belize. The show was organized
by Belize's ambassador for the arts Joan Duran. NICH boss Yasser Musa led the
Belize contingent.
Yasser Musa, NICH President
"It's a kind of a celebration of all the Central American and Caribbean
countries; young artists from this region gathering together."
For his part, Musa re-visited his clothesline concept and used the outdoor
area to mount clotheslines with some very curious messages. Inside, Richard
Holder's Rastaman's last supper seemed not quite at home in the Catholic Monastery.
But pushing the envelope further than Holder was Santiago Cal's breakthrough
sculpture, which at first blush seems to be a placid image of a young boy fishing,
but appears finally as a grotesque and deformed rendering. According to Musa,
Cal was Belize's brightest star.
Yasser Musa,
"Certainly the work of Santiago Cal is a great example of contemporary
art that is on par with what is happening in the region. He has shown in Cuba,
he has shown in Dominican Republic, he has shown in Guatemala and from a contemporary
art standpoint his art, along with some of the other art works from Belizeans,
are on equal par or better than their regional counterparts."
And overall, among many other strong showing form throughout the region, Belize
held it's own.
Yasser Musa,
"I think it was a proud moment for Belize in terms of where we are in the
visual arts. I think we are out highest format as a result of all this exposure
to the regional community."
And for those who didn't believe the hype, the Grandmaster came through with
trademark performances, charming crowds, and enticing the Mexican ladies with
his singular style.
[Grandmaster performing]
Two of the stars of the "landings" show, Cubans, Fabian and Elsoca
bring their very strange, highly fascinating work to Belize this Friday. Their
work combines hundreds of sorted roach wings, in a mesmerizing design.
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