Chilean urban artist Cekis on fire: ArtTraveler digests happenings affecting Latin American artists

Cekis mural in East Harlem, NYC

Urban street and grafitti artists like Chile's Cekis transform barrios and streets into free galleries of protest and pure visual delight. Cekis lives in Brooklyn, NYC.

A few weeks ago Madrid shopkeepers invited 130 well-known international street/grafitti artists to take a weekend and on Sunday 6 Feb., give their barrio a facelift,  transforming it into an open, walking and visually vocal gallery.

It appears a growing trend in Madrid, which reminds me so much of San Francisco or Amsterdam because of its contagious artistic energy.

Fine street and grafitti artists may have produced a tipping point so their art and movement will exponentially grow the more the world decays, the more the need for sanity in the streets cries out.

The more we need colour, design, words, visual content, art of all kinds to uplift our spirits in times of trouble.

And in tranquil times, too.

Focus Latin America at ARCO, Madrid opens 18 Feb. (to public): Brazilian free-lance artist Luisa Duarte, associate curator at Museo Tarrayo, Mexico City, Daniela Perez, and Julieta Gonzalez, associate curator of Latin American Art at Tate Modern, London, co-curate "Focus Latin America."

Duarte screened and then invited 13 Latin American galleries to participate in  ARCO's inaugural opportunity specially designed for emerging Latino artists.

"Focus Russia," a similar ARCO project new this year, offers collectors an opportunity to see works from rising Russian artists.

Latin American gallery becomes "La Cueca," Chile's dance of loss and passion: Opening 18 Feb. at Solar Gallery in East Hampton, NY; there are 7 performances over 18 -19 and 25 - 26 Feb.

Solar gallery's space, a 10-year-old flexible fixture, offers Latin American artists and performers new opportunities. Take "La Cueca," a Chilean folk dance produced by Solar Gallery ally,The Box Productions.

Representative of Luis Camnitzer's work.

"In the Beginning Was the Word," solo Luis Camnitzer show in New York: 2 Feb. - 29 May. German-born Uruguayan conceptual artist Luis Camnitzer continues his first New York solo exhibition.

Language permeates his works: printmaking, drawing, installation and photography. Organized by Daros Latinamerica, Zurich, the show is curated by Katrin Steffen and Hans-Michael Herzog.

Camnitzer married South American artist Lilana Porter. The pair joined with Jose Guillermo Castillo, founding the New York Graphics Workshop in Manhattan.

Cuban painter and engraver Luis Miguel Valdes opened a solo show at the Fayad Jamis Gallery of the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City 16 Feb., which runs to the end of March.

Luis Migue Valdes

"Aguacero" by Sebastian

Mexican sculptor Sebastian's Aguacero hopes to bridge cultural/political divides.  El Paso, Texas welcomes installation of "Aguacer," one of Sebastian's towering works for which the city paid Sebastian $300,000; total cost of project is $500,000. Dedication to be set when weather improves, reports the El Paso Times.

The crossing between El Paso and Mexico, called Paso del Norte, previously looked like a "prison entrance," the newspaper quoted El Paso Mayor Joe Wardy as saying.

Rock on and practice peace and love.

ArtTraveler videos are on YouTube. Check out the growing photo gallery of Dutch walkers Rob and Joost on their 1,000-km. pilgramage (Via de la Plata), day 38, from Seville to Santiago de Compostelo.

And if you might like a walking holiday in Andalusia's mountains or a week-long mosaics or sculpture workshop, see: www.Spanjeanders.nl.

Principals Joost (walker) and wife Moira (artist/art professor) speak Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish.

Stefan, the ArtTraveler(TM).