The playful and irreverent relationship of Mexicans with death is probably best represented in San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato, Mexico by the work of Jose Antonio Madrazo of Cielito Lindo Estudio. Madrazo's specialty are nichos (niches) filled with tiny skeletons and impertinent refranes (Mexican proverbs) that make fun of our daily lives.Here is just a sampling of the humorous labels:
- Dios habla por el que calla
(God speaks through those who keep silent)
- Vas al cielo por el clima y al infierno por la compania
(You go to heaven for the weather and to hell for company)
These are but some of the phrases on the brightly painted and decorated nichos. The diminutive skeletons of these curious and wonderful works also have a life of their own representing famous characters from Mexico and around the world, to include Emiliano Zapata, Frida Kahlo, Elivs Presley, Marilyn Monroe, The Village People and The Beatles.
Jose Antonio Madrazo left Mexico City 27 years ago for San Miguel, starting a new life and business. "The idea began when I had a restaurant in Salida a Celaya called Carlos n Cheves, which was decorated in a humoristic way, with comic elements everywhere," he said. "One day my partner brought some simple nichos, made by local artisans, and we decided to decorate them based on Posada's Catrina representing the dead as if they were still alive."
Madrazo was a pioneer in San Miguel in decorating nichos. "As we began to decorate and sell the nichos, we noticed that we had no competition," he recalls. "Then we saw that those most in demand were on death combined with refranes. Currently, 80 percent of my work is on death."
Madrazo's work also elaborates large, decorated clay Calavera skulls.
The winning formula for this artist is an original design that is combined with the capacities of local artisans. "I am not the only one involved in these pieces. I design them, but at least four others are involved making the nichos, the figures, painting the nichos and writing the phrases," said Madrazo. Local artisans from rural communities, mainly from Tembula and El Moral, collaborate with Madrazo to decorate the nichos and make the small clay skeletons. "I personally take the material to the communities so that the artisans do not have to spend their little money on transportation," said Madrazo.Madrazo's work is called New Folk Art, and is known in different parts of the world. His work is exhibited in the Peabody Museum in Boston, at Harvard University, in the Mexican Art Museum in San Francisco, the Cultural Center of Contemporary Art in Mexico City. One of his most famous works is exhibited in Disney World in Florida, at Epcot Center's Mexican Pavilion. This work represents a Day of the Dead scene, said Madrazo.
Madrazo exports around the globe to Japan, Europe, Australia and South Africa. And his clients include the famous Ringo Starr has a nicho with four Beatles skeletons; Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones; actors Steve Martin and Alain Delon; Mexican singer Lucero, and the banda grupera Los Tigres del Norte (Northern Tigers) have all purchased Madrazo's fun representations of themselves.
In San Miguel, Madrazo's nichos are on sale at Restaurant El Pegaso and in Casa Maxwell, but they are also available to enjoy and purchase through the artisan's website at www.cielitolindoestudio.net.
