Category: Art

Secret Art Motherload

Museo Vivo del Muralismo isn’t listed in any guides that I’ve seen. I just happened to pass by while walking around Centro so I looked it up. It’s in a gorgeous old historic building and apparently, when it was the Ministry of Education in 1923, they commissioned Diego Rivera to adorn then place with his art (1923-1928). About 9000 square meters (almost a full kilometer) of beautiful murals all facing a stunning courtyard. There had to be at least 150 of his works in there (out of the 250 or so total). They have exhibits with original aztec murals and more modern stuff as well. How come nobody talks about this place? It’s the only museum in town open on Monday that I know of and it’s free admission. An absolutely amazing place to visit, completely off-the-radar of the hoi polloi. They might want to hire some marketing folks.

Weegee “Society of the Spectacle” at ICP

I first heard of the photographer Weegee via an old newsreel I saw, which really made him out to be an oddball but still glamorous NYC celebrity. I never knew about his innovations and the depth of his photos until more recently. Such powerful work. Whether it’s the crime scene or passersby/crowd photos, celebrities, spooky film audience photos, or whatever, they keep your gaze much longer than most photographs do. Nobody that I know of has ever brought humor into photography as well as Weegee did. I also can’t argue that his later work with photo manipulation wasn’t way, way ahead of his time. The exhibit “Society of Spectacle” is very worthwhile visit through May 5 at ICP