Mexican artist Mayo exhibits at Museum

Newsday only had time for a very brief view of the works of Mexican artist Pepe Mayo on exhibit in the temporary exhibition rooms of the National Museum on Wednesday morning, because the poet-artist himself was to give a workshop to art students from secondary schools in those exhibition rooms that same morning.

Muttering curses under my breath so as not to shock the young, I tried first one angle, then another, attempting to photograph a half dozen or more of the 40 paintings on display without photographing myself, the paintings on the opposite wall, the gallery lighting or any of the other reflections in the glass covering Mayo’s works.

For example: what appears to be a white golf ball between the upraised arms of the nude figure in the piece I’ve described as “Kites, birds and nude piece of Paisajes de Oficiante” is the reflection of one of the gallery lights, the squares outlined on the back of the same figure are reflections of paintings hanging on the opposite wall of the gallery. I leave readers to imagine the other pieces without those distracting reflections even while I wonder whether they trouble those who come to the National Museum to see the works in situ.

To make matters worse, from a reviewer’s point of view, none of the paintings had a title because they were all part of the series “Paisajes de Oficiante” — “Landscapes of Oficiante.” I hope Her Excellency the Mexican Ambassador will forgive me for adding brief descriptions in the captions to the pieces I photographed?

The series are landscapes of the seashore — that some may call seascapes — complete with surfboards, birds, palms, bathers, fish, crocodiles (I thought those reptiles lived in swamps? Are these artistic licence, or a breed of salt water crocodiles?). There are shells, planes, kites plain and fantastical, fireworks, ships and horses.

I’m afraid the translations from the Spanish of reviews by art critics in Spain and elsewhere confused rather than enlightened. I spent some time pondering this sentence “His history is widened.” — and gave up to concentrate on the works themselves . . . which are a delight, full of fun from the crazy palms to the Chinese dragon —style kites — or are they the fireworks referred to by one reviewer? Even the fish are grinning. Indeed they are a breath of fresh air. This engaging series of paintings, “Landscapes of Oficiante” by Pepe Mayo, continues on exhibit at the National Museum until July 8.