Bridgewater Review

Volume 32 | Issue 2 Article 5

Nov-2013 "Rosas" by Juan Torres Julia V. Stakhnevich Bridgewater State University, [email protected]

Recommended Citation Stakhnevich, Julia V. (2013). "Rosas" by Juan Torres. Bridgewater Review, 32(2), 8-10. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol32/iss2/5

This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. had warned us that these stops some- “Rosas” by Juan Torres times evolve into false accusations lead- ing to opportunities to demand morditas Julia (Yulia) V. Stakhnevich (bribes), something we were lucky not n the past twenty years or so my family has to experience first-hand. accumulated an eclectic collection of paintings, One time, we got close: at 3:00 in the morning, a contingent of federales hailed Iprints, masks, books, and albums. Last year our bus to the side of the road. Two we agreed that it was time to make some difficult police officers boarded the bus and, after looking at everyone’s papers, came decisions as to what to keep and what to get rid of: it back to our seats and asked my husband was time to be more selective. We looked and talked, to follow them off of the bus. “We need and made compromises. However, there was one to search your luggage.” Not looking either of us in the face, they muttered piece, a print bought in Mexico, that I felt ambivalent the directions to follow them outside. about. Through the years, it became so commonplace “But I’ll have to go with him, too, and in our house that we hardly noticed it. he doesn’t speak Spanish, and we’ll miss our next connection,” I stood up The piece in question is a print by Juan Travelling by public buses from from my seat, sweat running down my Torres, a contemporary artist from the Guanajuato, we went to Guadalajara, spine even though the AC was blow- Mexican state of Michoacán. Now in then to Morelia and Patzcuaro, finally ing in my face. Suddenly, one of them his 60s, Torres has exhibited many indi- reversing direction and going all looked straight at me: “Your accent vidual shows in Mexico and abroad and the way to the northwestern city of sounds strange. Where are you from, was deeply influenced by his teacher, a Zacatecas. The last leg of the trip to really?” “Moscow, Russia,” I replied, legendary Mexican muralist, Alfredo Zacatecas was a ten-hour bus ride, hoping that somehow it would make Zalce (1908-2003). Born in Morelia, punctuated by frequent stops by the a difference. “La gringa rusa,” smirked the capital of Michoacán, Torres built federal police (los federales), automatic the cop. “She is too far from home,” his artist quarters 30 miles away in the weapons in full view, searching for said the other, shoving my husband’s countryside town of Capula. He com- illegal emigrants and drug mules passport into my hands. And that was bines several styles in his art, but one going from the southern states to the that; our brush with danger was over. of the stronger elements in his work US border. Our Mexican friends in I still don’t know what changed their comes from the costumbrista style, a Guanajuato, an older couple, Anita and minds: was it the fact that I was Russian style based on realism that incorporates Lalo, from whom I was renting a room, or that I wasn’t American? Or that they folkloric elements and draws inspira- recognized me as both? Or that I wasn’t tion from indigenous peoples and their silent? I’ll never know, but the memory cultures. Artists working in this style of being awoken by men in uniforms focus on depicting scenes from the lives with huge guns pointed at me in of common people. For Torres, inspira- the aisle of a dark bus has lingered tion comes from Michoacán, its history, to this day. geography, customs, and rituals. Is this the feeling that I associate with I met Torres and bought the print “Rosas”? Maybe it is part of the story. during my first summer in Mexico in What comes immediately to mind 2003. I stayed in the city of Guanajuato when I look at “Rosas,” though, is for three months working on a research the delight that I felt standing at the project in sociolinguistics. In the mid- zócalo in Morelia, gazing at its majes- dle of my stay, my husband came for a tic cathedral and the surrounding visit, and we embarked on a two-week colonial buildings, constructed in the journey through northwestern and seventeenth century out of local pink- central Mexico. colored quarry stone. What a gorgeous city! In 1991, Morelia was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site for its well-preserved historical center that has “Rosas” by Juan Torres

8 Bridgewater Review evening we were back at Yuri’s shop, Catrina, Posada created images of a asking if we could meet the artist. After female skull or skeleton dressed up as a phone call, he gave us directions to an elegant lady in high-society fashion Juan Torres’ place in the small town of of that time, with her most recogniz- Capula outside Morelia. able feature being a huge, plumed hat. Sometimes, she’d be carrying a parasol; About an hour by yet another local bus sometimes she’d also have a purse. La on a bumpy country road, the town, Catrinas were meant to satirize those or rather the village of Capula, was not The Rooftops of Morelia (Author’s photo) who didn’t support the revolution and much to look at: small, unremarkable insisted on clutching to European roots retained most of the original sixteenth- stucco-covered buildings put together and denying their own Mexican iden- century layout with many buildings haphazardly formed its center. Capula tity or Mexicanidad. Soon La Catrina dating from the seventeenth and is famous for its ceramics, and several became so popular that other Mexican eighteenth centuries. Originally named street vendors were selling their wares artists incorporated her image into their Valladolid, it is now branded as “the in the town center, some unglazed and works; for example, she is prominently most Spanish town in Mexico” because some decorated in intricate flower or featured among the 150 portraits that of its colonial architecture. Ironically, geometric designs, rows and rows of comprise Diego Rivera’s mural Sueño the town’s other claim to fame is its bowls, cups, plates, and vases in make- de una tarde dominical en la Alameda role in Mexican War of Independence. shift kiosks made out of tarps. What (Dream of the Sunday Afternoon in In 1828, it was renamed to commemo- stood out among typical wares were Alameda Park) circa 1946. As a cultural rate Morelia’s most famous native son, catrinas de barro (clay sculptures repre- icon, La Catrina moved away from its José María Morelos y Pavón, a revolu- tionary priest who led the rebels against the Spaniards in 1811 and was executed in 1815. We learned that the young Our first evening in Morelia, we found woman in the print was the artist’s a rooftop café and watched how the pink color of the buildings turned daughter who at the time was golden and orange as the sun was set- ting, until suddenly we could only see mourning the loss of her baby. their grey silhouettes. It was a great spot to people watch: from our vantage point, we could see the whole plaza with tourists and locals strolling by and revolution-inspired beginnings and senting death). Brightly colored and of street vendors here and there selling became one of the most recognizable various sizes, they looked both ominous brightly colored helium balloons in all images associated with El Día de los and fascinating. shapes and forms. Who would have Muertos (the Day of the Dead). Today, thought that we would see balloon We learned later from Juan Torres that catrinas from Capula are famous all over characters of SpongeBob SquarePants, one of the reasons why he had chosen Mexico and have come to exemplify Goofy, and Mickey Mouse bounce Capula for his residence was its long Mexico’s tongue-in-cheek fascination merrily high above the plaza as the tradition of making ceramics. In addi- with death. groups of traditionally clothed women tion to establishing his own studio, he Although both of us wanted to spend busily sell rebozos and dulces to tourists? also opened a taller or workshop for time poking around the markets in locals. When in 1982 he created his first Morelia was also the town where we Capula, our main goal was to visit Juan Catrina ceramic sculpture, his local ran into an antique dealer named Yuri. Torres. So, off we went in search of his students learned how to make them, When I told him that I was originally house. It was supposed to be easy to get too. Production has never stopped. from Russia, he proudly explained to from the bus stop, at least according that he was named after Soviet cosmo- The first artist to render a three-dimen- to Yuri—just about half a mile down naut Yuri Gagarin. He told us about sional image of La Catrina, Torres got the road. We got off at what we thought an exhibition of the art of his friend, his inspiration from famous 1910 etch- was the right stop, just as Yuri had Juan Torres, in Morelia’s modern art ings by Jose Guadalupe Posada, which instructed us (or so we thought), and museum and suggested that we should Posada created during the Mexican found ourselves on a dirt road. After a visit it. We did, and the following Revolution. Known as La Cavalera long walk and with the help of several

November 2013 9 by his wife and students. Because I evoking a strong feeling of melancho- really wanted something that was by lia and decay that touches everything: Torres himself, we switched to looking youth, beauty, innocence. From our at his paintings and prints. The paint- conversation with Torres, we learned ings were handsome, but beyond our that the young woman in the print budget. But the prints were both port- was the artist’s daughter who at the able and affordable: a combination we time was mourning the loss of her baby. couldn’t refuse. Torres also said that he had been fasci- nated with death and that it had been After flipping through many prints, one of the key motifs in his art. I was drawn to a portrait of a young Juan Torres (Author’s photo) In a way, this was also a catrina, but woman. A silkscreen over laid paper, 18 instead of a jolly skull lampooning locals who kindly pointed us in the by 23.5 inches, the print was numbered death, this image was about the imper- direction of la casa y taller del Maestro, we 4 out of 50, signed and dated “Juan manence—the loss, and the grief we were finally standing in front of a huge Torres, 2000.” Its background was experience in life. gate with Capula’s biggest house behind made to look like shabby wallpaper it. Known as el Panteon in the neighbor- with stenciled bright red roses. In the Now, years later, what am I to do with hood, the house was surrounded by a foreground was an image of a female “Rosas”? It is true that some of the beautiful garden with original sculp- nude with long, dark, flowing hair and objects that we invite into our liv- tures by Torres. It also had a chapel that a luscious scarlet mouth. The woman’s ing spaces have a short shelf life: at served as the studio and workshop space body had a semi-translucent quality: first, topics of conversation, they lose for the artist and his students. the texture and design of the wallpaper their novelty and stay somewhere in We buzzed at the gates and were ush- were still slightly visible through her the periphery of our vision, kept, but ered into the compound by a young image, giving her a ghost-like presence. forgotten. I don’t want to lie and claim man named Alejandro who spoke The piece was entitled “Rosas” and was that “Rosas” is my favorite. It isn’t, and impeccable English. His father, a printed in Torres’ studio in Capula. I it won’t be, but examining it carefully wealthy businessman from Monterrey, was attracted to its melancholic mood, after looking at it and not seeing it for was one of Torres’ biggest patrons. the otherworldly protagonist, and the many years has triggered the memories That summer, Alex was staying with juxtaposition of muted tones against the that were nearly erased: the excite- maestro to participate in a ceramic reds of the roses and the girl’s mouth. ment of my first trip to Mexico, the ill-fortuned bus ride to Zacatecas, the workshop; in the fall he was to return The more I looked at the image, the surprises of Morelia and Capula, Juan to Vermont to attend a private school. more endearing it seemed to me. Soon Tor res, catrinas. Beautiful and somber, After a brief tour of the compound, I realized that it had a Russian connec- its subject matter inspires melancholia we went to Torres’ studio to meet him tion: the wallpaper as the background and connects me to my past. Beyond and look at his art. The studio con- for the portrait reminded me of the the artist’s intention, it has acquired a sisted of three large rooms: a ceramic books that futurist Russian artists and sentimental value and a life of its own, workshop with shelves around the walls poets produced in the 1910-1920s: these entangled in mine, and that’s why I am packed with catrinas and other ceramic crudely made books on wallpaper were keeping it. wares, a room full of Torres’ paint- the artists’ challenge to the status quo ings, and a room with a printing press. as represented by the bourgeois tradi- After a brief chat, we went around and tion of fine book-making and printing. Maestro showed us his work and talked Born out of revolt, the wallpaper books about it. The conversation started in became a necessity when shortages English, but soon switched to Spanish. engulfed all spheres of life after the We admired the catrinas in the studio: Revolution of 1917, and artistic supplies much more elaborate than the ones were nowhere to be found. at Capula’s center, most of them were about a foot high, with intricate adorn- Far from the world of Russian futurists, ments of feathers, shells, and glittery Torres said that he chose the wallpa- per background because he wanted baubles. Although quite taken with Julia (Yulia) V. Stakhnevich is Professor to explore the ghost-like quality that them, I decided not to buy one when in the Department of English and Director it added to this image: the embossed we learned that Torres no longer made of BSU’s English as a Second Language texture of the wallpaper seeps through them; instead, they were constructed Program. the image, adding the eerie effect and

10 Bridgewater Review