By Amanda McLaughlin:
"You Cannot Capture It with Reason Alone" -Quote Paraphrased from Mexican Critic Luis Cardoza y Aragon
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with two exciting event at Allentown's Casa De Arte! The gallery, whose name translates literally to "House of Art," hosted its first exhibition in August 2011, and since its opening slightly over one year ago, has defined itself as a unique and accessible addition to the Allentown arts scene. With the help of the Asociación Cultural Buffalo Cuernavaca (ACBC,) Casa de Arte, as paraphrased from its mission statement, encourages an "ongoing cultural exchange between Cuernacava, Morelos (Mexico) and Buffalo, New York (USA)." The gallery certainly lives up to its mission, and this Fall alone it features an art exhibition highlighting six masterworks from Francisco Toledo--hailed by many as "the greatest living Mexican artist--and joins the Buffalo International Film Festival with an expose of famed Mexican comic Cantiflas' films.
The aptly titled
exhibit, both for its literalness and its journey-man implications--Francisco Toledo Comes to Casa de Arte--is
on loan through the generosity of the University at Buffalo Andersgon Gallery, and
should not to be missed; if you couldn't make the opening reception on
September 15th, head down to Allentown before October 8th to catch
the show, which also features a selection of artworks from artists who hail
from state of Morelos, the so-called "heart of Mexico." Toledo's work encompasses a variety of
mediums, from oil-painting to sculpture, and though his subject matter is
varied, ranging from the abstract to the pictorial--inverted, abstract flowers
to simple, plump frogs--it is almost universally imbued with a deliberateness, a
purposeful duskiness that weighs, delightful and heavy, like a velvet across
the eyes of its viewers.
Tones of flesh
and rock, sky and moss run through the work: otherworldly in its associations
and its reproductions--the frogs, for example, are not life-like or idealized,
but fleshy and willingly haunted--his
pieces are animistic tomes in the truest sense, steeped in history and
sensibility, without pretense or narcissism. For the cinephiles of Buffalo, the Cantiflas
screenings are sure to excite. Hailed by
Charlie Chaplin as the "best comedian alive," Cantiflas is regarded as one of
the most influential and acclaimed Mexican comedians.
Francisco Toledo Comes to Casa de Arte opened this past Saturday, and will run
through October 8th. The
Cantiflas film screenings begin Thursday, September 27th and run
through Sunday, September 30th.
All screenings will be held at 7:00PM, and on Friday, September 28th,
Casa de Arte will host a reception at 6:00PM, prior to the screening of Ahi Esta El Detalle (trans:
There's the Detail). Casa de Arte is located at 141 Elmwood Avenue in
Buffalo. Additional information the
gallery and the ACBC may be found at their website, http://www.Buffalo-Cuernacava.com,
through their Facebook page, or by calling 716-240-9248. For ticket inquiries and information, please
call 301-919-4440. Further inquiries
into Casa de Arte may be sent via email to buffalo-cuernacava@hotmail.com.
"And still more, a thorough outline of Casa de Arte may be found in Rebecca Brateck's BRO article "Casa de Arte unites two cultures through art," to which I have included a link.
**All quotes in the article were taken
from provided press release or the Casa de Arte website.
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