The following teaser is from an article that was published several days ago, on the eighth of October, in USA Today. I missed it, so am posting it now…
If a picture is worth a thousand words, an epic artwork being unveiled [last] Sunday in Albuquerque speaks volumes.
It took more than nine years of painstaking work, but the 4,400-square-foot fresco depicting the breadth of Hispanic history will officially open for viewing at the city’s National Hispanic Cultural Center.
Billed as the nation’s largest concave fresco, it adorns the 45-foot-high walls and ceiling of the Torreón (tower) at the entrance of the center. It’s the work of Santa Fe artist Frederico Vigil whose epic fresco brings to mind Mexican master muralists such as Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
The labor-intensive art of fresco involves painting on wet plaster. And though Vigil had a parade of young artists helping him with the process over the years, he did all of the actual painting.
Titled Mundos de meztizaje, the fresco traces centuries of Hispanic history from the Old World to the New World. It’s meant to be a contemplative space before entering the larger center, a 30-acre complex that houses an art gallery, three theaters and a genealogical library.
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Viewing hours are from noon to 4 p.m. Sundays through 2010. Additional hours will be announced for 2011. Admission is free.
