Updated January 2020

A local artist’s perspective

If José Santo hadn’t just been through the 2017 Chiapas earthquake, I never would have had the opportunity to talk to him. 

The painter/ceramic artist undoubtedly was feeling a bit unmoored to say yes to my petition for an Oaxaqueño to serve as a contact in Oaxaca in my book for people interested in renting long-term in Mexico.

Santos was fortunate. He suffered little damage to his own studio. Nonetheless, the subsequent disruption in the city and seeing heartbreaking damage to historical and artistic buildings in Oaxaca rattled him significantly. His emails reflected someone grateful yet unnerved. 

I sensed he connected his acceptance to a desire to communicate to would-be visitors and residents that Oaxaca would recover and would always remain the artistic and cultural heart of Mexico. Oaxaca's reputation for art, cuisine, and architecture that most authentically represents Mexico can withstand even 8.2 earthquakes.

Santos returned to Oaxaca in 2014 after having lived 20 years in England. Twenty years is more than enough time to forget about Mexican earthquakes, and how many of their epicenters have been in the state of Oaxaca. 

Oaxaca, a city of about 300,000 people, has created great art for centuries. With so many famous artists from Oaxaca, you can’t but wonder about their muse, their city, as seen through the eyes of one of its artists. Many say that Oaxaca is the spiritual epicenter of Mexico. It is pre- Columbian, indigenous and Spanish colonial all at once.  At 5,000 feet, Oaxaca sits in a high valley dominated by Monte Alban, a temple complex and ceremonial city first settled by the Zapotecs around 600 BC. 

Monte Alban in the Valley of Oaxaca was the first city founded in North America, reaching a population of 17,000 people when London was no more than thatched huts. The Aztecs conquered the cultural center in the 15th century, followed by the Spanish conquest in 1521.  

As much as they tried, the Spaniards never conquered Oaxaca's indigenous cultures. Sixteen dialects are spoken in the Valley of Oaxaca to this day. Half of its population does not speak Spanish. Oaxaca’s architecture is a source of inspiration for its large community of artists.

Although Spanish in design, the sensibilities of the indigenous craftsmen who executed the city’s churches and buildings shines through.  Local markets are awash with barro negro pottery, hand woven blankets, and the embroidered clothing worn throughout Mexico.

The city of Oaxaca was laid out by the same Spanish architect as Mexico City and Veracruz. The local stone. pale-green or rose-tinted, from which many of its churches and buildings were constructed, also distinguishes Mexican architecture from Spanish antecedents. 

The myths of Oaxaca represented in paintings and murals by Oaxaqueño artists favor the fantastic and allegorical; the bird that becomes a man, the iguana that transforms into a woman and dream-like scenes. The works are awash in color and surrealism. Several of Mexico’s most famous artists were born in Oaxaca. Most left as young men to establish their fame and reputation in other countries. They returned even more in love with Oaxaca and with Mexico.

José Santos followed their example, returning to Mexico from England to breathe in the colors, history and legends that were like a second heartbeat within Mexican artists such as Rufino Tamayo, a renowned muralist who along with Diego Rivera and Gabriel Orozco represented Mexico in its turbulent mid-twentieth century. 

Tamayo spent decades in New York City before returning to Oaxaca. Painter Francisco Toledo, another an Oaxaqueño, has been described as a “Promethean figure” in the Mexican art world by The New York Times. Still painting at over 80 years old, if you ran into him on an Oaxacan street you might mistake him for a Mexican campesino, dressed in his splattered huipil and simple Mexican sandals. The proceeds from Toledo's work continue to help fund Oaxacan libraries, a photography center and an environmental and cultural preservation group Pro-OAX. 

Mexican contemporary painter Rodolfo Morales, another famous artist from the Valley of Oaxaca, has been regarded along with Francisco Toledo as among Mexico’s greatest artists for over a decade. Morales did critical restoration work on many buildings in Oaxaca though his Fundación Cultural Rodolfo Morales.

Morales notably felt that the women of Oaxaca, the women who craft its cochineal-dyed woolen weavings, the intricate crochet and the distinctive unglazed black pottery of Oaxaca, were the region’s best of hope of retaining Oaxaca’s authentic indigenous roots.  Toledo and Morales were close friends until Morales' death in 2001.

It's remarkable that two of Mexico's most famous artists were contemporaries in the same Mexican city at the same time. Together they helped build Oaxaca’s reputation as a center of art (an art teacher as a younger man, Moreles never left Mexico. He didn’t gain national exposure until he was over 50 years old.)

Many have voiced chagrin over the lack of deserved recognition Mexico gets in European artistic realms. José Santos lamented not seeing more Mexican exhibits while living in London although he did see exhibits by Toledo, Tamayo and Orozco. As a member of a younger generation of artists,  Santos found upon his return that even 20 years later artists in Oaxaca remain as devoted as ever to the school of art practiced by their famous predecessors.

Not long before his return back to Mexico, Santos had the opportunity to see Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco’s exhibition at the Tate in London, which he described it as a “truly contemporary experience” that led him to believe that he would encounter more contemporary art back home in Oaxaca, at least an introduction to modern trends and art movements.

“That didn’t happen," he said. "The context, mythological figures, colors and art techniques remain the same as when I left.  Although I do see a lot of engraving that while exhibiting traditional techniques, has a more revolutionary feel.  Young artists’ adherence to tradition in creating their art represents their defiance of technology without abandoning tradition.” 

Conceptual art is slowly peeping into some galleries in Oaxaca but there is still a long way for this city to become a fully achieve modern art status. Mexico City marched on to become an obvious hub of contemporary art and architecture in Mexico.

Santos is happy to be back home producing new work, experimenting with new materials and large-scale work.  When asked of his feelings about his own art since returning to Oaxaca after 20 years abroad, his response suggested a person still a little inquieto, working to synthesize diverse experiences into art that projects his own unique vision and voice. 

“I have lived most of my life in two [vastly different] cities. I can only project self-visions and experiences to rationalize my art. There is a mix of emotions running through my head when I'm in front of a canvas, ink or clay. I pray and say I hope you understand me...' mi dialogo,' which comes from both Mexico’s rich visual colors the diversity of the streets of England.”

Culinary Art in Oaxaca

Local art, archeology, and music fires the imaginations of local chefs as well. Many different indigenous groups contribute to the richness of Oaxaca’s famous cuisine, particularly its molés. Molés in Oaxaca are as distinct and varied as their cooks. Mexicans will tell you if you eat a molé too late in the day, it will give you strange dreams (Dianna Kennedy wrote a beautiful cookbook, The Essential Cuisines of Mexico, should you be interested in regional cooking from this area).

Related Links:

27 Essential Restaurants in Oaxaca according to Eater Magazine.

What are you seeing when you see a Mexican Cathedral? - Ventanas Mexico.

I have a terrible history with jewelry, but with Mexican silver from Oaxaca, I think my luck is about to change. Ventanas Mexico

The largest tourist draw in the state of Oaxaca is Puerto Escondido, a chill former fishing village popular with surfers with a small but growing expat population. - CNN Travel

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About the Author:

Kerry Baker is the author of three books. Her most recent is “The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico” . In Mexico, you must cook to maintain a healthy diet, a challenge in a foreign culture. This cookbook shows you how, along with 150 easy to prepare dishes.

The second book is "If Only I Had a Place," a guide to renting luxuriously in Mexico. Renting long-term, beyond a vacation stay in Mexico is different from the United States. A lot different. Use this book to set the stage to rent luxuriously for less year after year. Avoid the scams. Don't pay what tourists pay.

Her third book is “The Mexico Solution: Saving your money, sanity, and quality of live through part-time life in Mexico.” The only how to move to Mexico manual out there that will not leave you numb.