We just boarded the plane to Miami and then de-boarded, but here in the Costa Rica airport is a musician playing the marimba. It is relaxing. After 3 days of visiting museums, artists and galleries and hours of event planning, I am ‘tranquillo.’
My colleague from Nicaragua, Johann Bonilla, joined me as we plan a major event later in the year here. An art contest, award ceremony, book presentation and possibly an art auction need to be arranged.
We arrived Tuesday in time to see a documentary about one of the artists in our book of Central American Modernism. José Sancho is a sculptor who was recently honored with a retrospective exhibition in Istanbul. Sancho is at the showing and I have the opportunity to present him with a copy of the book.
The next morning is an intensive planning session with Eileen Mora and Iris Lam. Both work in the arts community and have some political connections as well. We shape the event with possible times, locations and sponsors. Not an easy task, as we cannot schedule when a major soccer match is on or another art event. Costa Rica loves their football and their artists.
Lunch at a Pho restaurant and then an impromptu happy hour at Galeria 11/12. I invited people to whom we owe books and some contemporary artists. Everyone is so impressed with the book… the size, the quality of the photos, the thick pages, that it is bi-lingual and it is easy to read and understand. One critic enjoys it because it does not contain art speak nor gossip.
The next day is a visit to potential sites for our upcoming event: the Museo de Arte Costariccense, the old customs building (an all glass two story structure) and the Galeria Nacional.
We also visit the gallery Kandinsky, meet with a collector/lawyer to discuss legal issues, have dinner with an artist, then end with a night cap at a karaoke bar… no, we did not sing. But we had danced a quick salsa with the Costa Rican art community.