My friend and neighbor, Guadalajara muralist Jorge Monroy, loves to paint.
“As a child, I couldn’t resist drawing everything I could see, from sunflowers to Superman.”
So, Monroy is a happy painter today, working on his latest commission in his “Studio in the Woods” among the hills of Pinar de la Venta, a subdivision to the west of Guadalajara.
Monroy recently informed me that this latest mural was commissioned by the rector of the University Health Sciences Center. “He kindly told me that this time, I could paint whatever I liked.”
The rector’s comforting words may have been in reference to Monroy’s gigantic “Suffering Humanity” mural which now graces the new wing of Guadalajara’s Hospital Civil Viejo, where it was dedicated on April 6.
Although the main focus of this mural is Friar Antonio Alcalde, who founded the public hospital in 1787, it also includes the portraits of 68 individuals who in some way have been connected with the institution over the years.
Choosing who to include in this long list was not in Monroy’s hands, but rather the hospital’s administrators.
Another mural which subjected the artist to rigid guidelines was his largest-ever work, the 30-meter-long image that welcomes visitors to the Phil Weigand Center at the ruins of the circular pyramids of Teuchitlán. Here, every detail had to be painstakingly scrutinized for archaeological accuracy.
Thankfully, Monroy’s latest commission comes with no such restrictions.
“The Health Sciences Center is the place where basic studies are taught to young people who will pursue different careers, such as psychology, dentistry, nursing, nutrition,” Monroy explained. “I’m painting a couple, a man and a woman, who are transparent, allowing us to see all their organs and bodily systems: bones, muscles, nerves, the blood circulation system, the heart, lungs and so on. The idea is that when students pass by, they will see something related to what they are studying. Of course, this is a painting, not a diagram from an anatomy book, so I can play with the light, the colors and the shapes. It’s an aesthetic message. The details are not exact, but it should be easy for the students to identify everything they see related to the human body. That’s the idea.”
Students of basic medicine may come upon viruses, bacteria, antibodies and DNA in the most unexpected places in this mural and may be surprised to find the two protagonists of the painting literally growing out of the earth. In other words, they will encounter the characteristics that make Monroy’s creations so compelling and uplifting: good composition, beautiful, well-harmonized and balanced colors, precise drawing in some cases and hyperrealism in others; all in all, a pictorial language which is never boring.
Monroy’s new creation will measure eight meters high by four wide. He is completing it in sections at his studio for later reassembly at the university campus.
To see a selection of Jorge Monroy’s murals and watercolors, google “Jorge Monroy Mexican Muralist.”