Cayetano, Villamor in joint exhibit
Their paintings are among the most sought after of any Belizean artists… and this month the public gets a chance to see their works together. Earlier this week News Five’s Stewart Krohn had the rare opportunity to see the art… and speak to the artists.
They are about as different as two painters can be in terms of style and appearance… but Pen Cayetano and Manuel Villamor have several important things in common: they are both Belizeans who no longer live in Belize, and they are both extremely good at what they do. Their joint show, sponsored by the Mexico-Belize Cultural Institute is drawing rave reviews and prompting local art collectors to turn out early and often… and to bring their checkbooks.
For Manuel Villamor, who first achieved fame in Belize for his distinctive murals at the Corozal Town Hall, the exhibition is a retrospective of nearly fifty years as an artist.
Manuel Villamor, Artist
“I’ve gone through basically three styles. My first style was the biblical scenes with social connotations, then I went into abstract paintings for a while and then I went into impressionist style.”
All three styles are well represented in the show. The neo impressionist works are his most commercial.
Manuel Villamor
“I went through this style for quite a while and I have to confess that the reason I stuck with those very saleable type paintings, I can produce these in dozens and they sell very well but I like impressionism very much.”
But the paintings inspired by religion are the most interesting, particularly those in which the target of Villamor’s satire… is the artist himself.
Manuel Villamor
“I have mixed feelings about the Roman Catholic Church. I was very, I studied to be a priest at one time and I still have some of that monastic thing combined with many other feelings which don’t seem to always work together. And this painting is satirical, sort of making fun of myself or making fun of that period when I was a very devout, orthodox fanatical Catholic.”
If the forces tugging at Manuel Villamor’s art represent a crisis of the spirit, those engaging Pen Cayetano are more geographical in nature. Long a fixture of Dangriga’s art and music scene, the man credited with giving birth to Punta Rock has lived for years in Germany… and his work balances the style of Europe… with the substance of home.
Pen Cayetano, Artist
“My theme here in Belize is Belizean. The style I use to paint Belizean style painting is European. So I reversed the whole scenery. I bring the scenery from here reversed into German and the German scenery I reversed into Belize scenery. In a sense in this portrait here, this portrait is me, a Belizean born, but I painted it in Germany and the style that I am using here is mostly an impressionistic style – just using the figures of myself and using a lot of paint so the canvas can get enough strength.”
And Cayetano’s latest offerings are some of his strongest yet: the self portrait, mango sellers, junkunu dancers and Mr. Peter’s Boom and Chime use vibrant colors to portray striking figures with little in the way of background. And Pen himself seems just as enthusiastic as his canvasses.
Pen Cayetano
“I like to come to Belize right, because it is definitely where my art can show more or less the culture, so I always come to Belize to use exhibition for the reason that my art is here. My style of painting can be from over there but my art belongs to Belize.”
A sentiment shared in many ways by Villamor.
Manuel Villamor
“My ethnic background is Mexican; I was born in Belize. I have in my life influences of so many cultures. I still think of myself as a Belizean.”
And Belizeans are only too happy to claim them both. Stewart Krohn for News Five.
The show runs through the thirtieth of November at the Mexico-Belize Cultural Center on the Barracks.
