Catrina Loca is a mixed-media collage by Rebecca Guy featured at the Bath House Cultural Center through Nov. 10
Vibrantly colored skeletal faces, all teeth and wide eyes, eerily playful, a visually-striking celebration of lives that have ended — Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is a fascinating homage to those who have passed on, and a fitting complement to Halloween.
In 1986, the Bath House Cultural Center at White Rock Lake’s first Day of the Dead exhibit coincided with its production of Johnny Tenorio, the American version of Jose Zorilla’s Don Juan Tenorio, a long-running play in Spain and Mexico that traditionally is staged every year during the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday in connection with All Souls Day, Nov. 1.
Now, 26 years later, the art exhibit, which has always been free to the public, is still running at the Bath House. This year’s exhibit features 70 local and regional artists and a blend of old-school and modern styles.
“A notorious difference between the early exhibitions, which were mostly composed of altarpieces by Latino artists, and the shows from recent years is the inclusion of more contemporary styles and media,” organizers say. “The inclusion of traditional Día de los Muertos altarpieces alongside contemporary artwork in a variety of media is evidence that this show, albeit rooted in the syncretistic Pre-Columbian and Catholic tradition of All Saints Day, has inspired artists of all backgrounds and cultures, who have in turn made the aesthetics of the tradition part of their creative sensibility.”
Enrique Fernández Cervantes, Visual Arts Coordinator and Curator of Exhibitions of the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, has curated this exhibition since 1999.
Dia de los Muertos runs through Nov. 10 at the Bath House located at 521 E. Lawther.
Regular hours are Tuesday-Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. The center is open until 10:00 p.m. on nights with theatre performances.
For more info call 214.670.8749 or visit the Bath House web site.
