CULTURE: BE UNDER THE SPELL OF ART

Javier Rojas

Publicado en Capital Letter No. 4

Noviembre de 2003

The four huge beheaded gentlemen stand outside the pristine building. They look like investigators, with the hands hidden in the pockets of their large coats, watching the entrance and welcoming the visitors. Such a strange guard for such strange hosts, certainly.

Inside, the place is even odder. It is the property of the magic and the unforeseen. There are no windows, but if you find any, you will have a beautiful and a different view or yourself. There are walls everywhere, but you will think it is a limitless space. The occupants are the phantoms that cross the white walls, the spirits and shadows who emerge from the floor and the cosmic energy which comes from the ceiling. They are felt softly, like a cool wind from the past, touching your face, enlightening your eyes, refreshing your soul.

It is said that the past is sad because it is gone. However, within that building the ghosts of the past seem to be happy. They have been recovered from death and brought to life. How have all those phantoms, spirits and shadows been organized so that they do not hurt us? It could only have been done by an artist. And this artist, who feels the same as the ghosts, is called La Maestra. The spirits are organized by her like the elements of her own painting. The artist's sensitivity is utterly constructive.

La Maestra knows perfectly well every creature in that building. She knows the spirits of Rembrant and Durero, the shadows of Antonio Roda and Miguel Hernández, the ghosts of Luis Caballero and Miguel Angel Rojas, the cosmic energy that comes from Egypt, Greece and, of course, Colombia. La Maestra knows them and they respect her because she lets them talk to us about the past of the mankind in a sort of possession. In fact, the building itself is possessed by the ages of the world. Let us exorcise our personal and collective phantoms and shadows by visiting the building. The museum is open; we are about to be under the spell or Art.