Pisa Pizza

The Murals of Jalatlaco VIII

From Alianza and Republica we move two blocks south to Hidalgo and turn left at what is the unofficial entrance to the Barrio of Jalatlaco. One half block up the hill we arrive at Pisa Pizza which is the favorite pizzaria of almost everyone I know here. During the pandemic with everything closed down they were still doing take out and I took out at least once every two weeks.

What a wonderful surprise it was last Saturday morning to find a mural being painted on their entrance door wall. Of course I trudged back up the hill to go home and get my camera. I enjoy finding and photographing murals but love it even more to find the work in progress and seeing the artists doing their thing.

The artist here and the designer of this mural is Angela Suke.…. On her Instagram page she states that every morning she rises to elevate the name of Mexican women artists.

Her iconic image and recurring design motif is her personal take on the folkloric dancers in their guelaguetza costumes...and that is the theme in this work. (She also does a lot of dogs and cats.!) We can also see on her web presence that she earns her income from not only murals but graphic arts, hand painted clothing...a whole variety of creative endeavors. Obviously she is a working artist and works at it all day every day. In fact we can see that this is the case of almost all of the artists here who have internet presence. A friend once said that anyone who uses the expression “Lazy Mexican” had obviously never been to Mexico. Mexicans are the hardest working people I have ever known. They work 12 hours a day 6 days a week ...probably 7. A cigarette vendor once said to me “Trabajar es la vida” To work is life. There is no evidence here to prove him wrong.

I like the overall jolly character of this mural. I am very fond of jolly. But in particular I like the rain of streamers and stars at the top of the work...both the design and the colors.

In watching the work what surprised me was the fact that they were using such small brushes on such a large format. But in the finished work you can see the wealth of detail that would require a brush that size. I was also greatly impressed that Sergio, working on the door frame, stepped to the easel as it were and freely drew out each motif without guidelines. (The other motifs had been pencilled in.) Years ago when I painted scenery for various theaters I could do that. But now that I have been painting for 70 some years I can only work in a very plastic or erasable medium...I labor over every line and form. But that is how My temperament has evolved.

Check out her pages: she has some beautiful work here.

(1) SUKÉ A. C. | Facebook

Angela Rocio Hernandez Gomez (@angela_suke) • Instagram photos and videos