Jadeite by Rodney Millar
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I was born in Canada. An exceptionally curious kid, anything out of the ordinary caught my attention. With an abundance of creativity, an overabundance some might say (now they would medicate me). My interests were more music and art than sports or academics.
I come from an extended family of creative people who excelled in their endeavor: musical, theatrical, artistic... Many of them have a strong business acumen, which has also served me well.
At age eleven, my father brought back stone from his travels, sparking my love of direct carving, a focal point in my life still today, although now I cut gemstones of jadeite.
My first art showing, of plasticine figures, was at a neighboring cottage in Manitoba when I was eight and dressed in a speedo bathing suit my mother had made me and I wore a Beatles wig. My first performance piece was a transgender role (a word not used in those days) playing Goosie Loosie in Chicken Little's The Sky is Falling at age six.
I failed to get through high school, falling one half credit short of the twenty needed to graduate. Nine of the nineteen and a half credits I did have came from music and art classes.
Rodney with Alberto Lescay Merencio at Harvard's Cooper Art Museum
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Finding that travel was the best cure for my curious nature, I moved at age eighteen to Costa Rica and Panama. There I learned about plants, cultivation and indigenous cultures, also starting to develop what would become a lifelong passion for Afro-Caribbean art, music and culture. My traveling, never as a tourist, but always as a participant, has allowed me a vast and diverse life.
To this day Afro/Caribbean/Cuban cultures drive my artistic views and education; from collecting and curating to my Afro-Cuban folkloric studies as a percussionist. I am a Cuban Santeria practitioner, Omo Aña heading in the direction to be Babalawo, Keeper of Secrets or priest.
My moving to Los Angeles in 1988 to carve large scale pieces in marble and granite started the desire to collect art. I curated shows while teaching direct carving. It is with great sadness even today that I recall how the Northridge earthquake destroyed five years worth of my work in five seconds. That massive negativity paradoxically expanded my musical interest and started me working as a studio percussionist. It also marked the beginnings of my Afro-Cuban studies, both religious and musical.
Alberto Lescay Merencio
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I learned to cut gemstones in San Miguel many years ago from the great jeweler, Kim Cevora. Jadeite in particular, but also other gems, remains central to my life. Whether smuggling gemstones, when Burma was Burma, into Thailand or mining in Guatemala and Cuba, jadeite has been good to me beyond my wildest expectations allowing me to expand my philanthropic nature and develop on other fronts.
The latest of these new arenas is my Yambu Gallery here in San Miguel. Having lived in Mexico, and having my remaining family reside here, I saw San Miguel as the best place to build a cube structure gallery and sculpture park. To my knowledge there is nothing like this space in central Mexico. The cube gallery concept is from France. The idea, to have the simplest space, a windowless rectangle, to show art always felt right to me. Coffee, wine, flowers and windows you can get anywhere. The showing of the work and the dialogue about the works is paramount. The Art is the only thing that matters at Yambu.
I represent a number of artists from different countries. Cuba’s most celebrated artist, Alberto Lescay Merencio and one of Mexico finest artists Alberto Lenz are to be featured in our opening show appropriately plainly entitled, Show #1 Yambu.
Alberto Lenz
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The show is open to the public just one evening, after which it is only by appointment.
My partner and I will also be bringing O Salon Sur to San Miguel. O Salon has been hosted and presented in Beverly Hills for some 16 years, by artist and collector, Linda Kunik. We know that it will be received very well here. In Los Angeles it is one of the most sought after venues for artists, curators and gallerists to show and discuss their artistic journeys.
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Show #1
Yambu Gallery Privada
Thursday, October 10, 6pm
Las Palmas 11, Colonia San Antonio
RSVP: yambugallery@gmail.com
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