Percie and Maria Yu lived in Spain for five years and when they came to New Mexico, they brought their love of Spanish culture with them.
Since then, their restaurant CafÇ Broadway has been a favorite of those wishing to experience Spanish culture.
Percie and Marie always wanted their restaurant to be a venue for great dance, music and art. This past weekend the CafÇ added "Arts at the CafÇ Broadway," to its usual fair. This installation is the first full-scale art exhibit the restaurant has ever displayed.
Don Marie Gottlieb recently began leasing the CafÇ on a trial basis. She says she wants to continue to expand on the Yu's ideas and feels the art opening is the perfect way to keep their vision alive.
The exhibit was put together by Carol Estes, a curator of the Liquid Lounge and a member of the Albuquerque Art Businesses Association. Estes said that "Art at the CafÇ Broadway" is different from other exhibits she has created because the art is eclectic and of no particular theme. Still, she chose artists whose work she thought would complement each other.
The works of the five contributing artists Lynne Pomerance, Ralph Greene, Louie Va, Sylvia Ortiz Domney and Angelo Chiado range from oiled photos to impressionist watercolors. The beauty of the exhibit is that the works not only complement each other, but are also impressive individually.
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The photography of Lynne Pomerance is particularly affecting. Pomerance photographs places or things that would usually go unnoticed. She said she seeks to capture these unseen qualities in every day objects. She accomplishes this by shooting her pictures on black and white infrared film and then tints her photos with oils, giving her work a soft look.
Viewing Pomerance's pieces, "VW'S" and "Broken Arrow" gives the impression of being transported back in time. The combination of black and white with color lends the
work a dream-like quality. The overall effect is a unique blending of the nostalgic and hypnotic.
Pomerance said she likes the idea of showing her art at a restaurant because it makes it accessible to people who might not otherwise visit a gallery.
The award for the most versatile abstract impressionistic art goes to Ralph Greene. His work evolves around turning reality into energy and taking that reality to a poetic place. A good example is his piece "Missie and Me," which is a bright oil painting of a boy and two horses. The images overlap until they blur together creating a new image.
Another Greene piece, "Joe with Love," is a charcoal drawing of a rooster that looks real but gives view of the front and back of the bird at the same time. Greene's work effectively uses light to bring his "altered state of reality" to all elements of space.
"Art at the CafÇ Broadway's" opening gala came complete with food and dancing.
Nicole Montano and her mother performed the "Tablao," or platform form of Flamenco derived from gypsy tradition. She said platform Flamenco is more intimate. The mother-daughter pair chose a pure "Antiqua" version of the Sevillanas that sets the tone for the dance portion of the exhibit. There were also performances from a variety of traditions such as belly dancing and Egyptian and Turkish music.
Manager, choreographer and dancer, Don Marie or Tagrid, as she is known on stage, said her choreography pulls from both her interpretation and several Middle Eastern sources.
The pieces included a depiction of the goddess Isis turning into a kyte bird to find the god Osirus, danced by Renada Rochon. Don Marie offered a piece about dying man who wants to kiss the lips of his beloved in traditional Persian and Azerbajani style.
The "Art at the CafÇ Broadway" exhibit will run through Nov. 30. Dancers appear on Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m.
