Dennis Hollingsworth

On the Way to Class

This morning, as we were on our way to Spanish Class, we come across a remarkable sight....

A SUPERCOOL STUDIO!

We had to boot to class, so I was bummed when the doors were closed when we returned. Behind us was the artist, returning from an errand on his quad bike. So we introduced ourselves...

Le presente,El Se?or Jaime. I asked him if he was the artist here, and he responded that he is not an artist, only an afficionado. Yes I said, you do it for love. I thought then that all artists should be afficionados, if not in the beginning but always. He built this place a year ago out of trash things he had on hand.

Jaime said that he paints in the morning, one day tackling the nose, another, the mouth. He showed me a book a friend had given him of Joan Miro's paintings. A thick book, he leafed through the pages, pointing out his favorite early work (portraits) and dissing the abstractions at the other end of the book. My Spanish wasn't good enough to suggest a continuity between the two poles.

In this bigger painting, he told us of the story of a trek to San Sebastian to appeal for help of some kind. Siglo cuatro, I think he said? I've seen the image of this caped crusader before here in town.