another eye opens

A tip from our mutual friend Stephen Silha led to visiting Casa de las Ranas (House of Frogs), the compound presided over by Radical Faerie outsider artist Anado McLauchlin. He lives and works in a small town just outside San Miguel de Allende. Every building on the property — the studio where he works, the Chapel of Jimmy Ray Gallery where he shows his work and that of others, the house where he lives with his husband Richard Schultz, even the public toilet (speaking of Going to The Chapel) — is covered top to bottom, inside and out, with colorful mosaics and found-object collages. The work is fun, witty, open-hearted, sacred, and beautiful, as naive as Howard Finster and as sophisticated as Lucas Samaras. We took the tour with two young Frenchmen and a woman from Guadalajara, just a few days before the gallery premiered “Conversations in Vision: A Two-Man Show,” featuring one room of work by Anado and one room completely revisioned, repainted, and inhabited by a young Mexican artist named Agustin Santoyo.

(click photos to enlarge)

the front gate

Anado and Richard

The Gate to Nowhere (a few yards away from The Gate to Now Here)

The Chapel of Jimmy Ray Gallery (named after Anado’s beloved father)

Andy’s favorite work of Anado’s in the show is the free-standing figure known as “Suerte (Luck)”

my favorite was “Preacherman”

Agustin was just finishing the custom-painted backgrounds for his artwork

the snazziest outhouse in the universe

a smaller gallery displays older works such as “Be a Fool Unto Thyself”

their home is a trip

check out the kitchen

work-in-progress: along the garden wall, Anado is creating a long mosaic mural based on the Tarot deck

Anado used to live in the East Village, and within five minutes we’d identified at least five mutual friends — O Teeny-Tiny World!

This entry was posted on February 8, 2015 at 7:28 pm and is filed under Photo diary.