Mis manos son mi corazón (son mis manos)

Today I'll go to a Gabriel Orozco's exhibit at Bellas Artes. Who's Gabriel Orozco? The first I knew of him was that in an 'Art Now' book there was this tiny Mexican guy with a very perverse smile among the out-and-about artists in all other pages.

And just to have an idea of what is him about, here are some Wikipedia hits:

A silver Citroën DS was sliced into three pieces lengthwise. The middle section was removed and the two remaining pieces were fastened together, forming an arrow-like car with a width 63.5 cm (25 inches) less than the original. Visitors may sit in the new vehicle and the doors and trunk can be opened though it was not made to drive.

Mis Manos son mi Corazón (1991) is a set of two photographs of the torso of a bare-chested man (possibly Orozco). The first depicts him squeezing his hands around a ball of clay; the second shows the man unfold his hands and the resulting heart-shaped clay form is held in front of his chest.

But actually this post was not about Orozco as I still need to have an opinion, it is about how knocked down I am by being in Mexico. Art here is just everywhere and it changes, and I feel I need two more weeks just to be around and decide where do I wanna go. Art is not snobbish or restricted to people 'who know'. Art is almost natural to my people, that cannot take minimalism and are so self conscious of the aesthetics that put make-up even when picking the newspaper. Art is not a privilege, it is truly democratic because Mexican people love falling in love and we pretty much embrace... everything. Can however discuss that one should not like everything all the time, but at least we have adrenaline running when discovering a new provocation.

Anyway, my biggest shock of the season is a new museum: the 'Popular Arts Museum' that just opened in the most dangerous neighbourhood in the city. Tepito is the kind of place that is not even mentioned in 'Lonely Planet', because you have for granted that people is undererducated, sell fake Louis Vuitton bags and have at least one convicted drug-dealer per family. All of it is true, and the neighbourhood is violent too. But then the Museum...

So, yesterday I talked to Adrian (based in Shanghai, but here for holidays) and after Feliz Navidad, he just said: Don't you find Mexico sooooo beautiful?

I actually do.