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Friday, August 19, 5-8pm
Galeria San Antonio, col. San Antonio
free
THE OLDEST PROFESSION----PAINTINGS FROM BOYSTOWN
By Henry Vermillion
A man walks into a bar and sits down at a table. (Sounds like Henny Youngman back in the old days?) A woman comes over and sits down. “Hi, Cowboy,” she says. “Buy me a drink?” And so on…
Behind those clichés and others like them lie a thousand jokes, tall tales and, of course, real life stories. A dozen or so of them are suggested by the new paintings at the Galeria San Antonio,( located on one side of the Parrochia San Antonio) in a show called “Boystown”. The show opens Friday, August 19, 5 to 9 pm. (Some of the preliminary studies for these pictures can still be seen at the drawing show currently up at the Blue Moon Gallery at Calzada de la Estación #151.)
The works are based on old souvenir photographs taken by house photographers in clubs in “Zonas de Tolerancia” or Red- Light Districts in Mexican border towns, where prostitution is legal, and is largely supported by visiting cowboys, college students, and other American men. While I had known about these places a long time ago, when I years later came across a collection of these souvenir photos, I was struck by how funny many were, how sad some were, how foolish, and how human they all were. I began to draw, and then to paint these folks. One picture led to another. Political correctness had no home here. Good old boys came to dance, drink, and have a good old time, to get away from the small -town strictures they grew up and lived with. For some young men, it was a rite of passage, as in one of the paintings in the show. For others, single or married, it was for uncomplicated sex.
For the women, the story is more complex. Some certainly seem to be having a good time---maybe they have learned to be good actresses--- some are posing like cinema stars, some seem bored, and some are hard to read. And some of the women had children to take care of in those tough situations, and yet did what they needed to do.
The show will remain up through Friday, September 2.
BOYSTOWN : AN ART EXHIBIT BY HENRY VERMILLION
By Stanley Klein
Boystown is a euphemism for the once infamous red-light districts found in many Texas cities in the early part of the twentieth century. Don’t think this Boystown is about the old 1940’s Spencer Tracy movie that takes place in a boy’s orphanage. It’s not.
Henry Vermillion’s new show at Galeria San Antonio focuses on these Red-Light Districts, called Boystown but more than that, it is an insight into the life of prostitution in general. Henry shows his people, contrary to how society may view them, to be human and, rather than evil, victims of what life has thrown at them.
This show might make us wonder why sex workers most everywhere get such a bad rap. What’s the worst insult you can hurl at anyone, man or woman? WHORE! What the artist is able to do here is give perspective to this unjust insult. Not that his women seem virtuous, but rather they are human. They appear to have fallen on hard times and are dealing with it as best they can. One of the things that struck me in the paintings, though, is that there appeared to be more “unsavoriness “in the eyes of the Johns than in the eyes of the women.
Henry Vermillion has the ability to capture the essence of the characters he paints, to let us see into their true persona. It is interesting to see how he portrays each of these people. He is able to make them more lifelike than they are in photos. He has often said in the classes he teaches “if you want accuracy, get a camera. Otherwise paint what you see.”
This is a moving exhibit. These portraits are not meant to condone or to judge the characters they portray; but rather to give us a broader view of the life and times of the people in general. And it’s an excellent example of how important good art is at revealing to us areas of life we may not have had the opportunity to see for ourselves.
Henry Vermillion was raised in Texas, and the exhibit includes photos of him at a younger age, sitting with some of the characters in his paintings.
This Galeria San Antonio Show (located on one side of the Parrochia San Antonio) opens Friday, August 19, 5 to 9pm. (Some of the preliminary studies for these pictures can still be seen at the drawing show currently up at the Blue Moon Gallery at Calzada de la Estación #151 above Lavinia´s Framing.
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