Henry Vermillion and his painted Stories [] Galeria Izamal

Published July 21, 2021

Henry Vermillion shares with us some thoughts about the narratives on his paintings:

A good number of the pictures I make are narrative, rather than descriptive. A story is often in (or behind) them. An arrangement of flowers, for example, can be gorgeous: fresh, almost like a miracle – to fresh eyes. Flowers we see, or their ancestors, were painted on the walls of Pompeii, by the old masters, and by the impressionists, and by countless other wonderful painters.

But a flower in the hand of a wistful young woman, at least in Victorian times, suggested a story, a “back story”, as they say today, no matter how trite or conventional it may have been. As I write, I am thinking of a fairly large painting downstairs. A half-nude anguished woman on an improvised stage seems to be pleading her case to an unseen audience. Behind her, a male figure hurries away into the darkness. The whole left side of the painting is filled with the profile of an older man with grey whiskers who dispassionately watches the scene, from an upper balcony. What´s going on here?  One version could be that the histrionic woman is baring her soul – as well as her upper body – because she has been dumped by her lover. He’s the one scurrying away in the background. The solemn man in profile? An impartial observer? A drama critic? Maybe God? Who knows? And, are there other ways to read the picture? Most certainly. See more of Henry’s work at Galería Izamal.

GALERIA IZAMAL CELEBRATES ITS 28TH

By Henry Vermillion

In 1992, I was one of a handful of painters having coffee in the patio of the ancient Meson de San Jose on Calle Mesones. We were commiserating about how the three art galleries in town (there were only three) were not selling much of our work.  They stuck our stuff in their bodegas where they never saw the light, etc. etc. “Wait”, said one of us. “Look at that!”   It was a “FOR RENT” sign on one of the little locales around the patio. “Let’s start our own gallery!”  And, in November of that year Galeria Izamal opened in that 15 by 15 foot space.  To invent a phrase, the rest is history.  Our spacious new downtown location is at Jesus 25, just a few steps past Cuadrante. Over the years, Galeria Izamal has featured the art of Jaime Goded, Peter Leventhal, Marion Perlet, Keith Miller, Stan Goldberg (the creator of “Archie” comics), Roberto Fuentevilla, Gerardo Ruiz, Jesus Real, and many others.  In our beginning years, through a connection with a Mexico City gallery, we also showed work of famed Mexican artists Francisco Zuniga, Rufino Tamayo, Jose Luis Cuevas, and Roberto Montenegro. Galeria Izamal is and has always been a co-op, which means that each of the ten members shares all gallery expenses and work.  Since the gallery takes no commission from artist´s sales, artist member’s prices are generally forty or fifty per cent less than in commercial galleries. Current gallery artists are jeweler Wolfgang Lichter, Juan Ezcurdia´s jewelry designs (whose watercolors are also available), photographer Elena Baca, and painters Juan Carlos Cázares, Jeff Ferst, Javier Garcia, Cissy Smith Marks, Lawrence Selevan, Henry Vermillion, and Britt Zaist. Britt is also gallery manager. The gallery is open daily from 11 am to 6:30 pm pm.

Photographer Ted Davis at Galeria Izamal February’s Guest Artist