After he finished the murals on my house, Jesus Lopez Vega went to paint a fabulous mural on the outside wall of my friends Candace and Bob’s house. They had a sort of ribbon-cutting for it yesterday where Jesus explained the symbols of the mural and also talked about the book he has written on the history of the villages on the north side of lake Chapala. Hopefully, it will be published next year. Here are some of the photos of the mural and the people who came to its grand kickoff. You can click on the photos to enlarge them and read captions.
Jesus was held captive by this mural for the five weeks he worked on it.
His wife Berta kept the studio open to viewers while his son Eduardo assisted on the mural.
Here it is in its entirety
and here are the folks who showed up for the unveiling.
The house consists of Candace and Bob’s abode on the very top floor
as well as four apartments that they rent out. This is a photo of some of the folks who live there.
Jesus, Candace and Bob in front of their new beautiful mural.
This is one of the thousands of small sacrificial votive clay figures, thousands of years old, that have washed up on the shores of Lake Chapala. Some of them are featured in the mural.
And here is the mural closer up with no people obstructing the view!
Michicihualli is the woman spirit of the lake who provides all of its bounty. This mural is in tribute to her and to the fertility of the lake.
The mural is located at the corner of Zaragoza and Nino Heroes in Chapala. It is two blocks north of the Malecon and two blocks east of Francisco Madero, the street that the church is on.
How splendid
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GREAT~! I LIKE~!
Does Jesus draw a cartoon of his rendition before he lays out such a mural or does he just have it in his head and let the art talk to him as he progresses. Thanks for posting this as well as the ones he did on your home. I wash I could hear his story of what the scene is telling him, and to us. I think in such art, whether in writing, painting, or physical, the artist usually has a base (mental picture) in their minds but then lets the art speak to them as they progress, making little changes as it takes on life.
Are the rest of the folks living there Expats~?
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Yes he does sketch it out first. You can see some of the pencil lines on the last photo where I did a closeup of the title and his signature. Their tenants are all expats, although there were a number of Mexican locals who attended the opening. He gave his talk in Spanish first and many had departed by the time I took the photos.
You can order his book when it is published and it gives a 2000 year history of the lake and its legends and population and beliefs over that period. The mural tells the story of the lake and the spirit that many believes resides in it. The little clay cups in the shapes of dogs and spoons and urns and many other shapes were used for offerings when children were born or when blessings were asked for. They slit their earlobes or other parts of the body and bled into the cup, then put copal inside, lit them and threw them into the lake. Over the years there were thousands of them and when the lake started to retreat, they could be collected from the dry lakebed that was left. I have dozens of them that I’ll give to a museum when they make one in San juan or when I die. A number of years ago, a friend collected dozens of them from donations or purchased them from locals who would sell them.. I gave him some of mine. He had kids write messages or wishes or words of offering, folded them up and put them in the cups and sealed them with sealing wax and they took them out to the middle of the lake and threw them back in again. It was an offering to make the water rise in the lake again and actually it did, due to legislation that made dams further upriver release more water and to increased rain. Of course the increased rain caused tons and tons of the mountain to come down in an avalanche which destroyed homes and almost all of the downward streets in its path. My house was between two arroyos and it came right up to my house from both directions but left it untouched. Houses a block away on each side were destroyed..It took a year to deal with restoring the streets. I have a blog showing photos. Unbelievable. Boulders as big as cars and a current that stacked cars on top of each other and sent them through the windows of houses. So, be careful what you ask for!
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A magnificent mural! I think you might have begun a trend ~ ~ ~
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Hope so.
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Embracing.
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Phenomenal work!
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This is so good.
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Reminds me of the painting we purchased from that artist. It hangs in L.R. but I think of it often.
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I have this gal in the creche over my garage and a flying version in my dining room.
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