Yes, yes, yes I know it's been too long since I wrote on this d@mn blog.
Oh well.
Life gets in the way.
Anywho, I was in Downtown, Tucson last night for the 2nd Saturdays street fair, firstly to see how bad the construction for the street car was going to affect a young event with a lot of potential. Unfortunately, I don't see how 2nd Saturdays is going to survive very well if we have 4-9 months of construction ahead. The stalls and stages seemed more scattered and isolated, the only vendors were selling cheap rosaries and miniature guitars from Mexico, there were only a couple food stalls and the sidewalks, which are already crowded, were worse for being half blocked off by wire fences. It felt subdued.
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Interior of Sacred Machine Museum and Curiosity Shop. Image courtesy of SacredMachine.com |
I went down there primarily to hear a musician-acquaintance who was playing the piano in one of the art galleries on Congress. The
Sacred Machine Museum and Curiosity Shop is a small gallery featuring primarily the art of
Daniel Martin Diaz but also other artists with a similar southwest/dia de los muertos/Gothic feel. It is one of the few galleries I've been in that I can point to and honestly say "only in Tucson". And it is gorgeous! If you haven't been I highly recommend it and to get your visual palette teased and primed, here are a few examples of the delights that await you:
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Ghost in the Shell by Brian Despain. Oil on wood panel. Image courtesy of SacredMachine.com. |
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Santa Muerte by Scott Holloway. Oil, leaf and ink on panel. Image courtesy of SacredMachine.com. |
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Santa Muerte by Daniel Martin Diaz. Carbon powder print on antique paper. Image courtesy of SacredMachine.com. |
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Sacratus by Daniel Martin Diaz. Screen print. Image courtesy of Serieproject.org. |
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Memento Mori by Daniel Martin Diaz. Oil on wood panel (?). Image courtesy of Art is Everywhere. |
Chris, my musician-friend, was absolutely fabulous. I managed to claim a little corner of the gallery to just stand and listen to his playing. He had a lush, dark playing style which suited the atmosphere and art to perfection! At times he just let the baby grand piano's natural resonance just fill the gallery with a rolling, menacing cloud of sound, at others he suggested early nickelodeon-style movies, giving it a very steampunk/Bram Stoker's "Dracula" feel. Delicious! I'm going to hit him up for his professional contact info so I can post links to his work on this blog. Stay tuned!