Casa Arnel Part II

The Murals of Jalatlaco IX.

I want to make it clear that the following remarks are made as an observation not a criticism and that I hope you see the humor in this.

It is the stuff of art world legend that Picasso and Matisse had a fierce competition to see who would be proclaimed the artist of the century. Primarily this comes from the fact that Picasso was noticeably competitive ...whereas Matisse operated rather more on the sly side. But that did not start with the two having met but on Picasso, for his part, having been fathered by a man who taught art, who painted and who on occasion sold an art work. For many years the Ruiz family struggled to survive. Likely this was unpleasant for the young Pablo and like his contemporary Charlie Chaplin, who had grown up in abject poverty, he must have vowed that as an adult he would rack up sales greatly in excess of his basic needs and to be recognized as not only a greater painter than papa, but than anyone. Not every art work he made was for sale...he died owning thousands of them...but he was always “at home” to collectors with ready cash.

All of Picasso’s art work was dated and most of it, including his sketches, was placed on the sheet so as to appear somewhat as finished works. At the time of sale they were signed. The signature was always legible and in many instances seemingly a part of the design. (Certainly a part of the sale price!)

As for who was the artist of the century it seem to me that here in Oaxaca Picasso has won the contest hands down. While there is now and then an acknowledgment of the past existence of Matisse, Picasso’s influence is pervasive. There is another artist here who is successful, financially successful, and whose home and studio are open to view and so popular that the artist and his family have moved elsewhere. The house, and it is lovely, is filled with his artwork and it creates the impression that this man has dedicated himself to equaling the 30 to 50 thousand art works the Spanish master left us. In many of them his influence is so obvious that one wonders if the work might not have been copied directly from an Abrams coffee table art book.

Be that as it may…

These thoughts have been occasioned by the fact that the Casa Arnel mural fills the spandrels between the doors and windows of the hotel front creating a field of seven panels. I was amused to see that each of the panels is signed, some of them twice. Arnel tells me that this was all painted by the artist...I guess he knows sign painting as well. To me this seems to insure that whichever panel the tourist chooses to stand in front of for his portrait, the artist’s name will always be seen. Some of them have the Instagram name and symbol, two have a bar code which I assume was stenciled, and one of them is hand signed by the artist. On the side wall there is a legend with the title, location and name of the artist one last time. On his internet page he appears to have turned out an impressive volume of work for a twenty two year old wanna be artist. Here is evidence that he turns it out night and day ...as did Picasso. And he looks to have been financially successful at a very young age. With such a prodigious talent I hope that during a long lifetime he paints from his mind and his heart and brings us new insights and great joy...rather than falling into the snares of fame and financial success by turning out product that looks like it had been lifted from the pages of the Rizzoli Encyclopedia of Art.

Oscar Wilde once said: “Nothing succeeds like excess.” Let’s hope for the best.