I recently met Julio Montero when writing the story on Baja Event Source. During that interview, Julio indicated that he was an artist and at one time had a gallery in the San Jose del Cabo Art District. Last week, he invited me to his one-man exhibition in the lower lobby of the Esperanza Auberge Resort on March 26th in Cabo San Lucas. Julio told the story of how he helped stage art shows for Uniq Luxury in hotels throughout Mexico and when the organizer at Esperanza learned that he was also an artist and saw his art, a one-man show was set for March 26,27 and 28th, 2020. And then, COVID-19 happened and the Los Cabos market was put into lockdown on March 26th, 2020.
A full year later, Julio was able to stage his show with the support of Esperanza. Given Julio’s involvement in staging events throughout Los Cabos and Mexico, it should not be a surprise that this was not just a number of original works on easels in a nice environment. It was in fact a show – that included an original work by Julio Montero being started, a world-class cellist from Mexico City, and a modern dance demonstration – all between 5:00 and 7:00 pm in the outdoor lower lobby of the hotel.
Julio describes his creative philosophy as “Color, shapes and texture sensations of scents, images, emotions, and thoughts have no location in the physical world and yet out of this piece of art I create the idea of a physical appearance on the screen of your consciousness. What you experience with my art is color in the physical world reaching electromagnetic vibration by color and texture compatibility. Going through your eyes, to your brain. Feelings, thought-changing experiences, and sensations that get transformed on your own self.”
The first thing that we noticed when we arrived was a blank six-foot by two-foot canvas with clean plastic underneath it set up in the middle of four other large original works. Beside the blank canvas was a table covered with art supplies – paints, brushes, palettes, clothes, and more. Julio started by painting the edges of the top half of the canvas in black. While being inspired by the cellist, over the next two hours, Julio applied color to the canvas in a number of different ways. Sometimes with a brush, sometimes by painting a piece of saran wrap with multiple colors and pressing it against the canvas; sometimes by dripping painting and spraying it to run down the canvas; sometimes by using a wide flat palette and scraping against the canvas and other times by dabbing or rubbing a cloth to change the texture of the paint on the canvas. While watching and listening to the cellist or watching the male and female modern dancers perform to the music, Julio continued to fill in the first layer of the canvas with paint using his wide variety of techniques. The process was fascinating.
As the two hours came to a close, we had the opportunity to speak with Julio. I asked him if he had any plans before he started working on the canvas. He explained that when he paints, his inspiration comes from the nature around him (he lives isolated in the desert on the East Cape), the music that he listens to and absorbs, and the textures of the work itself. He said that it was vital that the music of Donashi Ferrer on the cello provided the backdrop. For a portion of her performance, Donashi was just plucking strings to provide a rhythm. This rhythm influenced Julio’s pace on the canvas. We knew that this was not finished work. Julio described how most of his work takes at least four months to complete. He continues to add layers and layers of paint to build the texture that he wants. He will use sandpaper to soften and bring out underlying colors that are in the lower layers of the paint. When he has the abstraction and the feeling that he wants resin is applied over the surface of the painting.
While I have included photos of the original paintings exhibited, I have to apologize as the shiny surface of the resin with the sun meant that there were reflections in the photos from the people and things that were picked up as if in a mirror. The whole show and process were fascinating. As was the opportunity to speak with Julio and learn more about his background and style as an artist. He also mentioned that one of the pieces had just been sold and was on its way to a newly built house in New York.
For more information on Julio Montero and his art visit https://uniqluxury.com.mx/…/arte/artists/julio-montero-2/ and on Facebook at Baja Event Source https://www.facebook.com/bajaeventsource/
For more information on the art experiences at the Esperanza Auberge Resort visit https://aubergeresorts.com/…/experiences/agave-art-studio/
