A rustic stone silo on a rural stretch of the divided, east-west highway to Ocotlan (Mexico Route 35) has been the unlikely home for the last three years of the evocative installations of Kate Gubelman, a U.S. architect who has lived in Mexico since 1993.
“Transcendence – A celebration of those with perseverance” consists of six large sculptural pieces that fill a spacious, abandoned grain silo that Gubelman has transformed into a handsome studio that, despite added skylights, roofing and sophisticated touches such as scarlet paint, still remains rustic.
But the studio is hardly the point. Instead, the installations, which somehow convert medical paraphernalia – essentially basura (garbage) – into delicate, sparkling, pastel statements about the artist’s eight-year experience caring for her parents in their final illnesses, immediately capture the eyes and minds of the visitors whom Gubelman welcomes to her weekly lunches.
Many of the 20 or 30 visitors on a recent Sunday came from Ajijic, and, of these, some did not seem to enjoy the work, explaining that the theme – the overwhelming nature of medical pharmacology and other treatments – struck too close to home. Others, younger or with experience caring for aging parents, seemed to be on Gubelman’s wavelength, expressing wonder and admiration.
“You’ve taken something mundane and negative and given it a positive turn,” marveled one 30-something.
Any notion that this might be a frivolous endeavor disappears upon speaking with Gubelman. While her facial expression is not gloomy, neither is it light, and you may even find yourself wondering at times if she is holding back a tear as she surveys the creative expression that came out of an all-too-real, and even grisly, life-and-death drama. She mentions her inability to verbalize the enormity of her situation and her realization that crafting a visual representation was the only way to communicate it to loved ones and colleagues.
“All this material [medicine boxes and bottles, pills and capsules, IV bags, medical reports and radiographic images] was only what was used in my parents’ treatment at home, not in the hospital, and what I used is only a part of the total,” she noted, pointing to sacks on shelving overhead that contain unused paraphernalia. “I had four helpers in creating this and all five of us worked every day for two years to finish it.”
Besides architecture, Gubelman, who currently resides in Ajijic, has also practiced interior design and jewelry making. All these influences – focused on creating people-friendly work – are evident in “Transcendence,” especially, perhaps, her jeweler’s instinct for flattering color and luminescence, which is conspicuous in her addition of strings of beads and other shimmering materials.
Installations, of course, are usually not works to hang on a wall or place in a garden and, instead, beg to be shown in a public space, where people can mull over their often incisive and confusing perspectives.
“I’d done sculpture and figurative work before, but never installation,” Gubelman noted, adding that she hopes some institution may want to display “Transcendence” or its component pieces. But it is hard to imagine, say, a hospital setting for this work that leads many to a conclusion critical of the medical milieu, although Gubelman maintains she is not making a statement one way or the other.
“It does make you think about the whole health care process and its issues,” she acknowledges, underscoring that “my parents never thought they’d want this [so much medical care] but in the end, they did.”
“Transcendence” is on display at Los Conos studio, Mexico Route 35, El Sacrificio, Jalisco, about one hour from Guadalajara; 20 minutes from Ajijic. Facebook: LK Gubelman. For information or to schedule a studio tour: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or 331-157-2300.