The Port o'Call

by Margaret Fleming

A year or so ago we wrote an article about the Mata family, who own Wendy's Curios, the grocery store across from it, and another curio store in the Old Port. In it we mentioned talking to one of the sons, Jesús "Mono" Mata. At the time he was working for someone else, but he and another young man had the dream of starting an art gallery.

Jesús and his partner, José Carmona, began with a bare concrete slab behind his parents' grocery store, which they have transformed into a delightful and original space through their art. It now has a roof and walls. But these are not ordinary walls. Whimsical paintings of flowers, birds, and ornamental shapes surround the doors, form arches over the windows, and crawl up toward the roof.

José was out of town, so we didn't meet him, but Jesús showed us some of his works, as well as his own. They both do oil paintings (or perhaps not oil, but acrylic) that are fanciful and imaginative. I liked one that was a stylized improvisation on the shape of a fish, using different colors and textures to make a harmonious whole. If you visit the gallery, get Jesús to take you to the room behind the gallery where he stores some of his larger paintings. We were both impressed by one he had done for Day of the Dead, with a lively-looking skeleton against a backdrop of brightly-colored objects surrounding a gravestone. John liked one that showed a doorway with bright flowers that captured the flavor of Mexico most effectively.

Another thing that Jesús and José do is to take ordinary wood or clay objects and paint them in bright colors. We saw a number of wooden chairs and clay statues that had been transformed creatively from ordinary to outstanding. Maybe we'll have these two artists do some furniture or wall decoration for us when we build another house. Jesús gave us a little wooden cross that he had painted. It was brown with subtle colors, rather than bright, as befits a religious object. It's very lovely, and we're glad to have it.

Jesús and his family have been in Puerto Peñasco for many years. He grew up here, although he also attended school in the U.S. for a while and speaks excellent English. He was born on Dec. 12, and his patron saint is the Virgin of Guadalupe, so his birthday is almost here. Happy Birthday, Mono. May you express your creative imagination in the form of art for many years to come.

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