Second week of april, I’ve spend in a magnificent, more than hundred years old villa in a village of la Orduna, Coatepec. The place, now taken by a civic association of local and foreign artists is known under the name of La Ceiba Grafica and serve for production, education and as artist residencies.
La Ceiba is an enormous tree in the front garden and most of the production is litography and other graphic prints, it s why Ceiba is grafica. The place itself is a wonderful refugee for creation with beautiful surroundings of coffee plantations and mountains full of orchids. I mainly worked with the surrounding garden, plant elements, seeds and house itself. I integrated in my bigger canvas 160x190cm elements from everyday life in the villa. Spacious kitchen with old ustensils and two local ladies grinding and toasting coffee as well as cooking for the artists, our own papayas, eden like gardens around the house and my impressions from the surroundings.
I ve spend a lot of time drawing bromelias that slowly consume the trees leaving it full of flowers together with orchids, and some seeds and plants I ve found around the house. Some other drawings were produced week ago in Museo de Antropologia de Jalapa (Antropological museum) and also in Instituto de Artes Plasticas (Institute of Fine Arts) which invited me to work twenty days in Xalapa.
The results of my residency was shown in Xalapa 14. of April 2016 in an open studio event and later in Bratislava in DOT Comtemporary Art Gallery in July 2016.
Streets of Coatepec, Veracruz
My outside studio with Bromelias
I would like to thank Institut of Fine Arts of Xalapa for its support, la Ceiba Grafica for great six days I ve spend in there and Fond pre Umenie, that supported my mexican project from Bratislava. And last not least my friends Gerardo Vargas and Magali Velasco for their help, and chakistes – flys, that dont let me sleep in the night and chachalakas – birds that wake us up during the day.
starting Mexican Table painting