René Serrano Rodriguez Blog

Ivonne Laura Poly Paty "The body always seems impressive and beautiful to me, but in its female version, it appears even more like a connection to my own duality. I think my masculine and feminine sides are more present.  I started taking life drawing classes when I entered the academy at the age of twenty. Since then, I have been fascinated by the human body, with a preference for the female form. Being an audiophile juror, I am the custodian of a discreet collection of vinyl music that is constantly growing.  At some point, I will make a post about how much audio and music have to do with my life and artistic work.  My appreciation for high-resolution audio comes from a very early age, perhaps from the age of 6 when I visited my aunt and uncle constantly on my mother's side.  My babysitters were the turntable, speakers, and a gigantic collection of rock music; The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin... Many more... It's not really music from

"Agua Perla is a Cacao community in the Chiapas Jungle on the banks of the Jataté River, at the foothills of Lacandona. I arrived there due to my enthusiasm for chocolate, stemming from my work as a laborer in a bakery-pastry shop. Thanks to a small course, I started a small artisanal chocolate brand, praline. To get there, you need to land at Tuxtla Airport and go to the town of Comitán. From there, take a series of shared taxis towards the town of Maravilla Tenejapa. Once almost on the border with Guatemala, you'll need to get to the limits of the population, where you'll have to proceed to the outskirts and hitchhike. You'll reach a bridge and need to hitchhike again to the next river, where you'll cross with the help of a little boat. Then, take another hitchhiking ride to the town of Agua Perla." "Many kilometers of dirt roads and river crossings to reach this beautiful place. The kindness of the people is incredible, as well as

This is another piece that I am fortunate to keep in my place. It is a wonderful Kirdi piece dating back to around 1800, which I acquired in 2014. In Cameroon (Central Africa), there is a small ethnic group called the "Kirdi" (The Pagans). This tribe of nomadic farmers, known since 1600 for their colorful accessories, provided me with this beautiful loincloth in an African object market in the heart of Brussels. Married women or those entering mature age wear this type of "loincloth" (a kind of loincloth made up of small metal strips), which also serves as an indicator of status in their society. The tribe, active since 1600, continued to use this type of accessory until 1961 when women were compelled to dress completely by government instructions. I'm sharing other Kirdi pieces from different collections.

After leaving my studies in Business Administration, I embarked on a six-year journey as an immigrant, engaging in various occupations such as mason, farmer, cleaning, and working in pastry and kitchen roles while pursuing my studies in Fine Arts in Belgium. Back in Mexico and passionate about chocolate, I launched a small brand of artisanal " Pralines Chocolate " in Morelia, which led to a visit to the cacao community of " Agua Perla " deep in the Lacandon Jungle. This inspired the creation of the artwork "Fruta de Cacao," which, in addition to its form and pigments, incorporates elements like "monitos" from the "Rosca de Reyes cake" aa tradition, from Belgium and later adopted in Spain and Mexico. The artwork: " Skull A" was a resin skull filled with four types of chocolates: "Smarties", "M&Ms", "Lunetas", and "bootleg Lunetas". Smarties, initially produced in England and can

It was in Valle de Bravo, Mexico, when I acquired this beautiful ritual mask from the "Bobo" tribe. I was visiting a hotel where I had to create a series of photographs for its virtual tour of the facilities when I came across this piece. I knew something about this tribe because I had an excellent art history class at Beaux-Arts Tournai. The African section in the curriculum was incredible and well-developed by my teacher Viviane Guelfi. The Bobo ethnic group is located in Africa, specifically on the border between Burkina Faso with 100,000 inhabitants and Mali with about 50,000. The Bobo ethnic group speaks a language called Mandé, primarily spoken in this region of West Africa. The Bobos are farmers, cultivating mainly millet, sorghum, and cotton, from which they make their clothes and generate some sales. Without a centralized government, they organize into lineages where the elders form a council and make decisions. The idea of a "chief" is profoundly "s

I have always felt a strong attraction to African art. Interestingly, I haven't been there, know little about it, and it hasn't been a priority or a dream for an upcoming trip. However, getting to know its art through museums captivates me. I am fortunate to have acquired some pieces throughout my life, and one of them is this "Notarial Act." The piece was purchased during a visit to the "Passé Composé" store in 2014, hosted by my friends Thierry Delannoy and Sylvie Deleersynder in Tournai, Belgium. This piece of wood, approximately 23 x 6 cm, bears illegible calligraphy, at least for me, arranged on the front. Part of what could be an "official seal" of some local authority with a red pigment can be discerned. These types of Acts date back to the 12th to late 18th century in the northern region of Africa. During this period, official documents such as notarial acts, marriage certificates, and "deeds" for homes were often recorded on p