ENCYCLOPEDIA OF IMAGES
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SANTIAGO, ALEJANDRO Oaxaca painter and ceramicist, Oaxaca, Mexico, 1964 -
I have known Alejandro for a long time and always loved his work. He visited San Francisco in 1992 and drew a little sketch for Russell and me, below.
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Then only a couple years ago he began work on a monumental project of life-sized ceramic images which represented the people of his pueblo.
My friends Stan Gotlieb and Diana Ricci always liked his work, too, and have made several trips out to his studio in the pueblo of Suchilquitongo, Oaxaca, about an hour west of the capital city. Diana took lots of pictures of the work in progress. Below, the figures contemplate a pot of clay, a sort of "From whence thou cometh ..." No?
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In 2005, he was acknowledged with a one-man show at the big Oaxaca Museum of Contemporary Art, MACO. He proclaimed his effort to "re-populate" his pueblo of the people who had migrated north. The exhibition featured over one hundred figures.
He estimated that his pueblo had lost some two thousand, five hundred persons to the north. He added one symbolic unknown and called his work-in-progress "2,501 Migrantes." The exhibition spilled into the street and attracted the attention of passers-by.
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Then in September of this year, 2007, he was invited to present his finished 2,501 "migrantes" at the opening of the International Forum of the Cultures, which took place in the northern city of Monterry, Nuevo León. The national and international press exploded with coverage of Alejandro's powerful piece.
The powerful message of this intense work was not lost on Mexico or on the Intenational Community which attended the forum.
I feel honored to know Alejandro Santiago and to help spread the message of an artist who is leading his people into the future.
Congratulations, my friend.
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In early December of that year, 2007, the Cultural Forum ended "80 days of intense activity" while Alejandro's monumental work stood guard.
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CONTINUING ...
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