INFLUENCES
Influences
I must speak and I know it would be amost imposible to mention all the people that has influenced me. Each person has transformed the direction of my life, my ideas, my soul, my art.
Oleo Foto: A Place filled with art and artists that earned their living doing what they loved. The artist’s studio of Gregorio Lopez Colunga (Goyito) where he transformed photographs into works of art with Maestros such as Carmen Lopez Colunga, Adelina Lopez Colunga, Gloria Mendoza Lopez; Rachel Lopez Chacon, Gregorio and many others. I learned from them so much, so much.
Mexico City: For the longest time I claimed that I knew every street in Mexico and it was almost true, at least in my mind. I went everywhere walk into every church every coffee house, every taqueria in sight. I loved the city and was determined to explore all it corners. There were neighborhoods like “La Candelaria de los Patos” (The thieves lost city) where not many dared to enter; yet I went to see and very near there was whole street with hundreds of taquerias whose only delicacy were “Tripitas” crunchy, chewy, raw.
I cannot forget the colosal movie theaters with hundreds of seats occupied every night. The film festivals: Russian, French, Italian. After the movies, “Flautas con Tinga”. In Mexico art and food go hand in hand.
Chicago: Each time I arrive in Chicago “I am Home.” Next to D.F. I love this city.
Teachers: Many wonderful teachers have enriched my life. special homage goes to Victoria Garcia. Terence Domchke thaugh me so much about the stage Gustavo Fernandez had an amazing love for martial arts. Raul Armijo thaught me about the pre-socratics and yoga. Leonor Pereda Lee lost her summers opening minds. Macedonio Lopez awakened in his philosophical conversations with my father a love for knowledge. Oh, The Books, the books I learned so much from books. Roberto Mendoza thaught me that strenght and sensitivity can coexist. One of the most influencial teachers was not a person but a place: Sala Chopin.
Mexico: Atop Popocatepetl my heart goes flying into the starry night. I got lost in the Cañon del Sumidero, I was there before it was turned into a lake when they built a hydroelectric dam; yet, even now, there is magic in the air. An when one talks about magic one must think of Chamula. Then drinking Chocolate in Morelia and Oaxaca and cafe at la Parroquia in Veracruz. I went o dance at the Chalma sanctuary and offered flower to el cristo negro en Yuriria and D.F. As one can see this country has influenced me.
The Orient: I have never been to Tibet and then I have. I have never been to India; yet, I have. The search for the spiritual began at an early age combined with the love of books, catholicism and mystic influences the philosophy of my socialist uncles made a mess of me. I went in search of truth and understanding with an open heart to lay myself at the feet of the master. But themaster kept moving, always, like the horizon. each time I thought i had touched divinity, it flew away. I learned quickly: I must look inside mself. I lerned mantrams in sanscrit and studied the upanishads and the tibetan books of death. I learned quicly: The aztecs had similar if not more credible beliefs. I discovered, when they changed the mass from Latin to Spanis that the secret were simple words. I went back, looked at the mantrams and as I looked I saw that these were simple words that sounded exotic because they cam from an exotic land. Then I invented my own yoga, my own kung fu, my own mantrams. Just like Dorothy.
The first time I read Neruda I did not like his work. Same goes for Picasso. Both artists had grow on me and They DID. I was young and naive with heavy influences from the purist classical concept of art; naive in the sense where popular poetry is what one was exposed to. I fell in love with Modigliani since he painted long faces like mine and I could never leave aside Tchaikovsky, Maiakovsky, Balzac, Doistoievsky, Diego Rivera and Siqueiros, Chopin and Miguel Angel Burnaroti, Shakespeare and Vinci, Octavio paz caused many dissapointments but when I tried to mock him by reading his poems aloud to prove my point, they sounded very good. i almos forgot Netzahulcoyotl and Sor Juana, Alfonsina Storni, Simone de Beauvoir, Marx, Two of my greatest loves lived in the same neighborhood where I grew up: Remedios Varo and Tamara de Lempicka, those two are lucky I was not around or they would have been bombarded with bad poems and flowers. Rabindrant tagore and Jilial Halil Jibran (I think that is how you spell it) were also on the list. Tom Palazzolo and even Marcos Raya. Gregorio Lopez Colunga (Mi papa) and the wonderful baker and Artist:Teresa Lemus Vazquez ( Mi Mama) My Brother Eduardo ( Lalo), Rodin, Pacin, The Beatles, and the list goes on and on and on. Oh! The Movies.
The women in my life I have to thank for being with me, for supporting the dreams and ideas. Dalia White Eagle, Kapra Fleming are with me in this wonderful adventure called life.
I have to admit that my brothers and sister Eva, are an inspiration witht their ability to survive and stay Integros in their beliefs, When I look back the were always there. Silvia Pappe is an addition t the people that I have had the luck to have in my life.