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.