Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Exhibitions by artists Nora Maciel and MO open at Galleria Dante on Friday, March 22, as part of this week's South Side Shuffle. Stop by Puerto Vallarta's largest and most eclectic art gallery to meet the artists and enjoy complimentary cocktails from 6:00-10:00 pm.

NORA MACIEL

Nora Maciel was born in Ciudad de México. From early childhood, she had access to books of art, classical music and she had an affinity for drawing and color management.

At the age of 10 she bought her first canvases and oil paints and began copying characters from classical painters. Later she asked her father to take her to the San Carlos Academy to see about the possibility of studying there. As soon as they arrived at the venue, Nora's father, although cultured and knowledgeable about art, saw naked men and women models posing in some of the salons, which bothered him and thus ended Nora's illusion to study painting was ended.

Life took several turns in the search for her profession, taking her in the 80s to work in the Art Gallery of Siqueiros Cultural Poliforum, where she had the opportunity to meet and interact with painters like José Luis Cuevas, Javier Arévalo, Francisco Zúñiga, Leonel Maciel, Pedro Banda, Manuel Felgueres and some others.

This is also where she met an emerging Catalan painter who exhibited in the Poliforum, Manuel Adrià, with whom she began a strong bond in their affinity to painting and art.

Already in a relationship with the Catalan painter, Nora left for Barcelona, where she signed up at the "Lines" School of Design and resumed her vocation for brushes and color. In 1990, she gave Body Proportion and Color Techniques classes at the "Lines" School of Design, where she had studied.

In 1993 she returned to Mexico and collaborated on figurines and illustrations for the magazine Obelisco in Mexico City. From 1994 to 1995 she took different courses and workshops on the History of Art at Casa Lamm in Cd. De México. From 1993 to 1996 Nora taught Body Proportioning and Color Techniques classes at the "Ibero Mexicana de Diseño" school, also in Mexico City.

In 1997, already settled in Puerto Vallarta, Nora set up a School of Painting & Design, where she taught for several years and had the opportunity to exhibit her art at Galería Uno.

From 2001 to 2007, she set up an art gallery called "Galería Nova," where she exhibited works by artists such as her husband Manuel Adrià, and plastic painters from Vallarta, including Rogelio Díaz, Francisco San Miguel, Sheila Devine ... and herself.

From 2007 to 2015, after closing the gallery to devote all of her time to painting, her art works were once again exhibited at Galería Uno. In 2010 Maciel exhibited in the Collective "Women" in Mexico City's Vertigo Gallery.

In 2014 Maciel participated in the "Eros" Collective at the OPEN Center for the Arts in Chicago. That same year she also exhibited in the "Día de Muertos" Collective at the Corona Gallery in the City of Puebla. From December 2018 to February 2019 Nora's paintings were part of the Collective "Fuerza y Fragilidad" in La Fe Hotel & Arts in Guadalajara.

Nora Maciel has been permanently exhibiting at Galleria Dante in Puerto Vallarta since 2016. Utilizing a multicolored palette that is sometimes warm, sometimes cold, her art is feminine, seductive and vibrant.

MO'S FIRST EXHIBITION AT GALLERIA DANTE

Galleria Dante is pleased to present the first exhibition in Puerto Vallarta of MO, an artist from Montreal who joined the gallery over a year ago.

Strongly inspired by the colors of Mexico and the atmospheres of the Pacific coast, MO paints contemplative and dreamlike scenes in her Puerto Vallarta studio.

Under magical skies populated by seagulls and pelicans, her subjects enjoy a day at the beach, embrace the horizon or read quietly, while small sailboats glide far away on the ocean, symbols of calm and peace. The paintings radiate the heat of Puerto Vallarta's sun.

Other works show us characters in their intimacy, waiting, their languid bodies and dreamy faces turned toward the infinity of the night. The characters seem to reflect on the mysteries of life, under a tropical moon, a recurrent symbol in the artist's work, evoking both dreams and boundless feelings.

Since early in her apprenticeship, MO has always been fascinated by the human body and its place in nature. Thus she depicts them, naked, forming part of nature, often partially or fully turning their back to us, contemplating the infinite sky and wondering about the mysteries of the universe.

Like those of Gauguin, the characters of MO's paintings inhabit the canvases halfway between dream and reality. Their bodies are close to us, but their minds are far away. This troubling presence brings us back to the eternal question: "Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?"

In magical seashores stripped to the essential, MO's characters exist to graze the infinite. Their pensive glances challenge us as we feel they are living a precious, unique moment, grasping the beauty and fleetingness of all things.

MO sometimes abandons the canvas for oil pastel, which allows her to get closer to her characters to capture the emotion of love, the one that makes us hold our breath and plunge our eyes into those of the other. The love that dazzles us and that we would like to last forever.

A graduate in Fine Arts, Literature and Scenography (at the National Theatre School of Canada), MO worked with a variety of visual mediums, including photography, videography, egg tempera painting, engraving, sculpture and land art. She has exhibited in numerous Canadian galleries and her works are in private and public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada.

"My first memory related to painting goes back to when I was 11 or 12 years old," says the artist in her studio in Old Town, Vallarta. "I challenged myself to reproduce a Van Gogh's work, an old house and a twisted tree with coiled skies. I loved the experience and was proud of my results. For the first time, I had just entered the world of an artist. I never forgot it."

After Van Gogh, many painters inspired, and continue to inspire MO. These include Fauvists, such as Gauguin, expressionists including Edvard Munch, or more realists, like David Hockney and Vermeer, who have in common the intimacy of the depicted scenes.

"The pleasure of painting, and this is what Van Gogh and all the others have taught me, is to give color to life, not only as we see it, but also as we feel it."

MO will be present during the opening. Don't miss your chance to meet this talented artist for cocktails at Galleria Dante while you're out doing this week's South Side Shuffle on Friday, March 22 from 6-10 pm.

While you are there, be sure to check out Di Vino Dante, a chic wine and tapas bar overlooking the gallery's sculpture garden that serves creative cuisine and cocktails. Last summer, Di Vino Dante opened a small dining area on the ground floor in a corner of Galleria Dante, for those who like to people watch. This year, they've added lunch service in the garden, daily from 12 pm. Please Note: Di Vino Dante does not take reservations on South Side Shuffle nights.

Open Mon-Fri from 10 am to 5 pm and from 10 am to 2 pm on Saturdays, Galleria Dante is located at Basilio Badillo #269 in Puerto Vallarta's Romantic Zone. For more information, click HERE, call (322) 222-2477, or send an email to galleriadante2(at)gmail.com. To see some of the art work on display at the gallery, visit GalleriaDante.com.