Gabriel Macotela overcomes his physical limits like Frida Kahlo and exhibits in Acapulco 62

▲ Working in unusual conditions allowed Gabriel Macotela to experiment with new materials and other techniques. Here, captured by Rogelio Cuéllar in 1994

Merry MacMasters

The newspaper La Jornada
Saturday June 29, 2024, p. 2

A set of recent drawings by Gabriel Macotela (Guadalajara, 1954), made a la Frida Kahlothat is, reclining, will be displayed with the title light slit, at the Acapulco 62 gallery, starting today. The series is the result of the need to stay in bed and what better way to do it than to start drawing.

Apart from that There was nothing else to dodrawing allowed the painter and sculptor to go beyond the limits of his confinement and transport himself to other worlds.

In these drawings, Macotela returns to his lifelong themes, for example, his landscapes, buildings, figures, faces, boats and still lifes, in the manner of a review of his production. It is a work that at first glance seems abstract; however, the artist does not consider himself an abstract artist. puresince figuration is always latent.

–What does the drawing represent for Macotela?

-It’s fundamental. I learned it at the National School of Plastic Arts, with Gilberto Aceves Navarro, who made us draw excessively. He therefore became the main structure of my painting and sculpture.

They are not drawings intended to later become a painting or sculpture: they exist in their own right.

–When drawing, what is your emotional state?

–Well, I move to another world, also when I paint; However, drawing has a particular, different character, because it is the essence of art and painting. It then has a special value. It is like a musical score, with a structure of shapes and play. There is a unique part, not so strict, but more free.

Working in unusual conditions allowed Macotela to experiment with new materials and other techniques. He drew with pencils, an atomic pen –as is stationery–, fountain pen, and took up markers again. He also used charcoal, graphite and pastel pencil; he even worked with Prismacolor, something he had never done before. I discovered effects that I had not found with other pencils. I know the cake better, because I have worked on it a lot.he points out.

The exhibition also includes a model-installation, The success of the war, made with Lego pieces, blocks that Macoteca has worked with a lot. The theme of the piece is war conflicts; it represents destroyed, burned, lonely buildings, thinking a little about the devastation of the current wars in Ukraine and Palestinehe explains. The piece is accompanied by music composed by trumpeter Eugenio Elías and double bass player Luri Molina.

The role of Viskin and Mena

The artists Boris Viskin and Alfono Mena, responsible for Acapulco 62, and the painter Gustavo Monroy, motivated to Macotela to make the presentation. The title, Crack of light, Viskin’s idea, points towards hope.

This is the first time that Macotela exhibits in that gallery, and he does so with a work full of vitality and an energy of honoring oneselfsays Viskin. It is a set of works strong yet light, to the extent that the drawing always has the strength to be more synthetic. At the same time, it is seen that Macotela’s proposal has maturedas an aged wine or a special reserve.

For Mena, the exhibitor represents a stage of art at the time. As Boris said, he is a person who matures and matures, plus he is very committed, whether we like his work or not. That’s a matter of taste; However, we all have to recognize him as an artist.

He is also a very well-liked person, despite keeping a low profile: He has a lot of bonhomie, as they say. She always sees the positive side of everything. When he talks about any other artist, he does it about the good side of him, which he recognizes. That is very valuable, because we always criticize others and he does not, but rather he values ​​the good part of his colleagues..

In Macotela’s drawings there are conscious references to the Bauhaus, related to its constructivist side; furthermore, it mixes figuration with abstractions. Although it is very different, it reminds me of Cezanne, who suddenly became almost abstract.he points out.

Regarding the composition created for the installation-model, Viskin points out that Macotela was always a musician: Rhythms have been part of his work, they seem like sonatas, musical pieces. Mena brings up that When Gabriel lived with Yani Pecanins, he had a bar in the basement of his house, where he played drums with other people. He is a music lover, like Boris. Music inspires him and he listens to it all the time.

Macotela is currently exhibiting large-format paintings, representative of a decade of production, at the Museo de Arte de Sonora, in Hermosillo.

The exhibition light slit, by Gabriel Macotela, will open today at 1:00 p.m. at the Acapulco 62 gallery (Dr. Atl 217, Santa María la Ribera neighborhood). It will remain open until July 28.