The Magic of the Cities.

Zen promotes the rediscovery of the obvious, which is so often lost in its familiarity and simplicity. It sees the miraculous in the common and magic in our everyday surroundings. When we are not rushed, and our minds are unclouded by conceptualizations, a veil will sometimes drop, introducing the viewer to a world unseen since childhood. ~ John Greer

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Leonardo Nierman





























Juarez Ave. and two sculptures of painter & sculptor Leonardo Nierman. In the background the Latinoamericana Tower.

Widely regarded as one of Mexico's leading contemporary artists, Leonardo Nierman creates works that challenge and inspire, drawing upon themes from the beauty of nature to the mysteries of the cosmos and beyond.
Born in Mexico City in 1932 to immigrants from Eastern Europe, Leonardo Nierman's first artistic pursuits were focused on music, while academically he was drawn to the area of physical and mathematical sciences. As a young man, he realized that his dream of becoming a professional violinist was not to be. However, his musical studies provided him with a point upon which his artistic career would focus.
"Music and painting are very much alike – both have tonalities, rhythms, high-intensity areas and resting areas," he says. "It was not until after I left music that I started to feel color."
He went on to earn his bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from the National University of Mexico in 1951, and for the next several years began to formulate his theories on light, color and form while honing his skills as a painter and sculptor.
Since then, his art has employed a rich mixture of natural and cosmic forces, allusions to modern science, and, of course, music.
His works – paintings, sculptures, textiles – are in major collections around the world, including the Vatican Gardens, the Albert Einstein Institute of New York, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Israel's Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, and Milwaukee's own Jewish Community Center.
In 2002, his sculpture entitled "Flame of the Millenium" was installed at the Ohio Interchange along Chicago's Kennedy Expressway as part of the Chicago Gateway Green highway beautification project. Reaching 25 feet in height, this shining monument to hope and human aspirations is constructed of 25 tons of polished stainless steel. It is also a fitting monument to Nierman himself - a masterful and idealistic artist and philosopher.
Latino Arts Inc.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Parroquia de Santiago Apostol / St. James Parish




Church build by Franciscans in 1585 at Chalco, a little town near Mexico City.


James, son of Zebedee
Saint James, son of Zebedee (d. AD 44) was one of the disciples of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome and brother of John the Evangelist. He is called Saint James the Greater to distinguish him from the other apostles named James (James, son of Alphaeus). James is described as one of the first disciples to join Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels state that James and John were with their father by the seashore when Jesus called them to begin traveling (Mt.4:21-22, Mk.1:19-20). According to Mark, James and John were called Boanerges, or the "Sons of Thunder" (3:17). Acts of the Apostles 12:1-2 records that King Herod had James executed by sword (Ac.12:1-2).
According to ancient local tradition, on 2 January of the year AD 40, the Virgin Mary appeared to James on the bank of the Ebro River at Caesaraugusta, while he was preaching the Gospel in Spain. She supposedly appeared upon a pillar, Nuestra SeƱora del Pilar, and that pillar is conserved and venerated within the present Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, in Zaragoza, Spain. Following that apparition, St James returned to Judea, where he was beheaded by King Herod Agrippa I in the year 44.


Answers.com