This amazing folk art from small villages in Oaxaca, Mexico are made of Copal, trees that jump up in the mountains of Oaxaca. Called Alebrijes, they are traditionally painted by men and decorated by women. As you can see in the picture, they are mostly whimsical animal figures as well as religious and mythological ones. Several of the famous carvers like Zeny Fuentes, Jacobo Angeles, Eleazar Morales, Armando Jimenez and Agustin Cruz Prudencio, the carver we met this weekend at the exhibition in the Tucson National Parks Store are so creatively funny and fantastical that many now have come to love and collect their art. Here's one of St. George wielding his sword.
Husbands parked at odd angles in mall corridor armchairs. Partners propped in fashionable store corners stunned in boredom. The vintage partner required to drive the car, carry the bags, and play Odd Job but certainly not required in the cut and thrust of the aisles.
The tourist destination of Tubac has an answer. Park your Billy-Bob at Grumpy Gringo. Support him in one Cohiba. Allow him two decent but not extravagant beers and tear off with the girls for some serious poking and prodding at garments and clay pots and paintings and whatever. It works. |
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September 2024
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