Paola Beck

A few months ago I decided to take a big step and make a lifelong dream come true, moving to the beach. This meant a whole lot of new things in my life, starting by the colors, textures and the ways of life of the tropics. I moved to Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, where everything seems to be so much more simple, natural and authentic, compared to the hectic and restless Mexico City.

At the same time, I started a collaboration with Dionisio Arras García, an architect, carpenter and artist based in Mexico City. We started experimenting and producing here, influenced by nature, calmness and the endless horizon. Our goal is to invite people to have a different approach to our pieces, including the backround in the installation and making it all become one.

Here some pictures of the process:

INTRO took place at Guadua, a beautiful bamboo palapa right at the beach. A very interesting crowd of people gathered during the afternoon to have some drinks, watch the sunset and talk.

This is only the beginning, we will keep you posted with what will come next….

*Pictures by: Estelí García, Pamela Macko, Dionisio Arras and myself.

On the 22-24th of june, the III Illustration, Painting and Photography Workshop took place in Mexico City. Alvaro Nates and Miguel Angel Cordera where the invited artists. Alvaro is a very talented photographer and Miguel is an abstract painter. Both work and live in DF.

Friday

Alvaro Nates

We experimented taking photographs at Alvaro´s studio in collaboration with Revês, a mexican dance-performance agency, and then worked on that images in both Abstract and Figurative ways during the weekend.

Priscilla Hernández, our model, made an impressive performance spending 7 minutes with each participant modeling, dancing, acting and feeling what each person had in mind. Alvaro guided us through the technical process of taking pictures with high quality equipment. But first, he gave us a lecture about photography showing us his favorite artists and explaining their technique and concept.

Before the shooting Alvaro explained to us some basic techniques about photography and the gadgets we had and how to play with them, and after each session (7 minutes each participant) he took a portrait of each one of us. One shot.

Here some results of the shooting:

By Vane

By Arturo

By Pame

By me

And here the portraits by Alvaro of each one of us:

Martin

Paola

Arturo

Pame

Vane

Gabriella

Poncho

Lian

Danae

and me.

After a very intense first day we all went home with our heads full of ideas.

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Saturday

Miguel Ángel Cordera is a mexican abstract painter, and we started fresh in the morning with a lesson in abstract art, analizing different artists and his own work. He explained his creative process and we chose some of the pictures taken the day before, and started to work on them.

Coffee Break

The catering was in charge of Pamela Macko, a nutritionist who made us very happy during the whole weekend with healthy and delicious munchies.

VERY happy!

After having lunch, we started painting. Each one chose between the pictures taken of Priscilla, or the portrait Alvaro Nates made of each participant after their 7 minutes with the model. So you could do a portrait or a self-portrait. Interesting things came out….

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Sunday

During the first and second workshop we started painting a huge mural, so it was time to finish it. It was sunny and it was my birthday as well, lucky me

Happy birthday to me

As some amazing paintings came out on saturday, some of us finished them after lunch, and others continued painting the mural. We decided to do a little show with the paintings and celebrate my birthday, so some friends came over to celebrate with us. Thank you so much to all the people involved, it was for sure the best birthday of my life

Thank you Pame!!!!

Self-portrait by Poncho

Self-portrait by Vane

Me by Paola

Priscilla (our model) by Artruro, and Pame´s self portrait

This is a serie or 4 new illustrations called Sick Love. This one is called “Jim y su amor” and it was part of CASA DE EMPEÑO group exhibition at Anonymous Gallery Mexico City last february.

Separación inventada

Im in love with a dying man

Look outside

This 3 are part of the current show “Cadáver Exquisito” by White Spider, in Choapa 44, Mexico City. Songs by Natalia Lafourcade, or Lana del Rey inspired me for the titles. I did these drawings in a very dark moment, and I took it as a big challenge to work with very much patience like I did in my university days. And I loved it.

I was invited by an artist I admire a lot, Jorge Alderete, to be part of a group exhibition held in Vértigo, his gallery in Mexico City, for their 2nd Aniversary.

Jorge Alderete: http://www.jorgealderete.com/

Vértigo: http://vertigogaleria.com/

We where more than 50 artists, from Mexico and other countries, mainly illustrators and designers.

The show was about Death. And the feeling every artist had about it, making a tribute to prehispanic Tzompantlis, walls of skulls of all the sacrificed people as a tribute to the gods. Or at least thats what I did.

My piece was called “And the joker laughs at you ha ha ha”. Its acrylic on wood.

No sombrero is an exhibition that gathers several young mexican artists and designers to show the world that the new creative mexican comes with No Sombrero. This means that nowadays we don’t need the super cliché and folkloric image to have a cultural identity as a country.

The exhibition is taking place in Brooklyn, NY. Opening the 29th of November, until the 10th of December 2011.

This exhibition is expected to be the first of many cultural events that take Mexico to other cities of the world, to show an updated view of our young cultural emerging scene.

My piece is about violence and love. Both sides of the reality of living in Mexico, where a war is destroying our country and our people, but at the same time, normal life goes on, and no one seems to notice what´s really happening.

French-spanish urban artist El Tono painted the historic building of La Quiñonera, in Mexico City, representing Anonymous Gallery from NYC, for the group exhibition “Espacio Flexible”. I was honored to help him, together with Héctor Quiñones and Laura Reséndiz. Check out his blog, he has worked all over the world and is very nice and fun to work with!

Go to blog

El artista urbano franco-español El Tono intervino el histórico edificio de La Quiñonera, en México D.F. como parte de la exposición Espacio Flexible, representado a la Anonymous Gallery de NYC, y tuve el honor de ayudarle a hacerlo. Aqui unas fotos del proceso, A continuación, el blog del artista donde habla sobre el proyecto y nos comparte algunas fotos del proceso.