For art lovers who have never visited Casa Vallarta on Avenida Vallarta in midtown Guadalajara, now is a good time to do so.
This converted mansion, built around 1920 in that era’s prevailing wedding-cake style, is too often overlooked in favor of better known cultural attractions such as the Instituto Cultural Cabañas or the Paraninfo.
Like the Paraninfo (and located not far away from it), Casa Vallarta is managed by the University of Guadalajara (UDG), which uses the main level as a small art museum with high-quality changing exhibits that frequently showcase the work of Mexican artists with a history of international ties.
Such is the case with both of the current exhibits. One, up until July 19, shows an impressive group of medium-large bronze sculptures by Leonora Carrington, that breakaway British debutante who died a year ago at age 94 after adopting Mexico as home for much of her life.
Carrington is probably better known for her surrealistic painting and these sculptures embody that surrealism, reflecting a personal mythology about which the artist is said to have been close lipped.
The other attraction currently at Casa Vallarta is quite different. It will show longer that the Carrington exhibit, probably because it is a mural, “El Despertar” (The Awakening). Completed just last week by three young artists who carry some metaphysical baggage, the mural graces Casa Vallarta’s large porch, the spot where free films are screened on Thursday nights and philosophical chats held on Wednesdays.
One of the muralists, Gabriel Romo (also called 2Hermano) was first invited to do the mural and, in turn, invited Miguel “Bounce” Perez and Shaun Burner to help him. The resumes of all three reveal young men with a proclivity for working collectively in California and other parts of the United States as well as in farther flung places such as the Philippines and Latin America.
Their mural, completed in 1 1/2 weeks and bursting with grand and minute imagery, depicts movement of human and animal figures from darkness to a finale of golden-hued light. The artists refer to Shiva, Mother Earth, a transition to a new cycle of humanity, an evolution of consciousness and other metaphysical concepts.
The multifaceted work seems at home in Casa Vallarta which, like many older structures in Guadalajara, has had a number of former lives — as a home with servants in a gracious neighborhood boasting large gardens, a school, a place for hiding priests and nuns during one of Mexico’s religious persecutions, a government and commercial office — before it was acquired by the UDG in 1996.
It’s small galleries and hallways make a very appropriate venue for the well-curated art shows it offers.
Casa Vallarta hosts free films on its open air terrace with the new mural on Thursday nights, 8:30. On many Wednesdays, coffee is served during “Cafe Filosofico,” a discussion on a theme starting at 6:30 p.m. On Facebook, check Casa Vallarta for movie titles and Cafe Filosofico days.
Casa Vallarta, Avenida Vallarta 1668 (near the popular restaurant Chai). (33) 3044-4050, ext. 38870 or 38808. www.cultura.udg.mx. Mon. to Fri. 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Free entry.