The great American bebop bassist and composer Charles Mingus observed, “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple—awesomely simple—that’s creativity.”
What has drawn me to write about Flower Vendors, of all 100 drawings in “Marks of Genius,” is the reverence it shows for human life by capturing and honoring a particularly inconspicuous, unspectacular moment that has occurred (without fanfare) every single day for centuries.
Alfredo Ramos Martìnez (Mexico, 1871-1946), Flower Vendors, c. 1935-1938, tempera and pastel on heavy cardboard. Bequest of Putnam Dana McMillan 84.19.
This is not a study in “grandiosity” nor “the monumental,” but rather an exploration of finding beauty in “the mundane.” The women depicted en route to the Xochimilco public market (still in use today) are not making a pilgrimage; rather they are merely doing what they do every week—every month—every year, as their mothers and grandmothers before them have likely done. They are just headed to work, as all of us are, every day—everywhere—yet, this simple scene becomes sublime when filtered through the eyes of Alfredo Ramos Martìnez.
This routine event is depicted in a stylized, romantic manner typical of his Mexican contemporaries—muralists like David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, and Diego Rivera—yet this work is not a mural. Its simple scale is perfectly appropriate for what it depicts. Its simple media (tempera and pastel) is perfectly approachable and non-pretentious. The artist’s neatly executed drawing appears razor sharp from a distance—yet his soft, warm hand strokes give away all of their secrets when viewed closely—masterfully inviting even the most casual viewer into the scene.
A simple procession of tropical flower-bearing women, depicted in a flattened-plane, elevational view sans perspectival foreshortening—red clay skin in harmonious contrast with a cerulean blue sky above—perfectly balancing the composition. As a Caribbean-born artist, I connect with Martìnez’s color palette in a very specific way. I too know of markets and women bearing baskets in arms, strapped to backs, and balanced on heads. I appreciate the graceful, dignified manner in which the subjects are portrayed.
I write this story to honor the artist’s mastery of his medium—finding power in his subtlety and genius in this “awesomely simple” masterpiece.
James Garrett artistically deploys technology and green design principles to articulate an evolving comprehension of the 21st-century city.
He was born on the Caribbean Island of St. Thomas and spent his formative years in St. Paul, where he developed an early interest in the workings of cities—especially the buildings, people, and interstitial spaces that compose them.
As a visual artist and published writer—trained as an architect—he expresses the urban condition through the lenses of art and design. His work employs diverse media (aerosol, ink, critical text, digital collage, physical sketching, and material modeling) to explore complex theoretical topics from a unique, ethno-experiential perspective.
Garrett is a registered architect in Minnesota and New York. He holds an A.B. degree in Architecture from the College of Environmental Design at University of California, Berkeley, and an M.Arch degree from Parsons School of Design in New York City. He is president of the California Alumni Association (MN Chapter) and serves on the Metropolitan Council Livable Communities and Transit Oriented Development Advisory Committees. In 2002 he founded 4RM+ULA (FORM + Urban Landscape Articulation), a full-service architecture firm focused on transit design, transit-oriented development, and urban infill redevelopment projects. Learn more about him at: http://4rmula.com/people/
Garrett will be featured in the MIA’s “Marks of Genius” Drawing Studio on Thursday evening, September 4, at 6:30 p.m. as part of the “The Artist Is In” series, free with admission to the exhibition.