Toronto-based artist and musician Alec Dempster, left, was born in Mexico so he comes by his cultural attachments honestly. Dempster has built a deep and meaningful artistic practice honouring a tradition of Mexican printmaking called El Taller de Grafica Popular (The People’s Printmaking Workshop). His musical focus is similarly specific, based on a very old folk style known as son jarocho, which is music from the south of Veracruz.
The geographic distinction is important: “In Mexico, the idea of heritage is complicated,” acknowledges Dempster. “In Veracruz, if you’re not from there, if you’re from Mexico City or Oaxaca, for instance, you’re considered a foreigner, it’s almost the same as being from Italy or Toronto.”
Dempster gets a chance to show-off both of his talents this week with the opening of a three-person show at Open Studio Gallery on Thursday and a musical performance Friday at Lula Lounge.
“My art and music are really intertwined,” says the artist. “This work is more personal and contemporary, more my vision of the world. Yet I feel like I’m part of a long tradition of print-making in Mexico. People often assume that I’m a Mexican print maker just from looking at my work.”
Dempster’s prints – dense and compelling lino and wood cuts (above and below) – go up tomorrow as part of a show he has curated called Mexico Inside Out. The title stems from the fact that one of the artists, José Chán, is still based in Mexico, while the other two are Mexicans living and working outside the country, Dempster here in Toronto and Daniel González in Los Angeles.
I met Alec at Open Studio on Tuesday where he and his wife and musical partner, Kali Niño, were installing the exhibition. Dempster and González’s work feels quite modern, while Chan’s pieces are more traditional in style and subject matter.
“Practitioners of the El Taller de Grafica form were very conscious of making statements about social and political problems in Mexico,” relates Dempster. “And they went beyond the confines of Mexico City, going out into the countryside and teaching. A lot of the work I did in Mexico was illustrating the popular culture from my point of view. I’m a bit obsessed with technology and how we’re all slaves to it in a sense.” [Note the piece above called Cell.]
“I think there’s a kind of musical quality to my print work,” adds the artist. “Like when you listen to a song, each time you may experience a different part of the arrangement coming forward.”
Dempster says he and Kali, below, may actually play a few songs at the gallery on Thursday but he’s saving his real chops for Friday’s show with guest musicians David Woodhead (bass) and Jaron Freeman-Fox (fiddle). Dubbed Café Con Pan (Coffee and Bread), the group has a small following “that we’re anxious to grow,” says Dempster. “We’re the only group in Toronto playing this music. My wife is part of the oral tradition and I’ve been immersed in it for 12 years.”
The name of the style, son jarocho, has a lot of history, notes Dempster. “It refers to the mix of Black Africans and Spanish – it was originally a derogatory word in Colonial times. The Spanish like to classify everybody according to their race. Now, it’s the pride of the people to say that they’re jarochos. History sort of reclaimed the word and our music respects the tradition but we have our own versions of the songs that we perform with our own lyrics.”
Dempster speaks Spanish like the native he is but it’s when he opens his mouth to sing that other Mexican’s really show their surprise. “In Mexico they’re very sensitive to accents and when they hear you speak they ask where you’re from. I think I’m losing my accent a little bit although I practice every day.”
Language, like artistic talent, is clearly a use it or lose it proposition and Alec Dempster is definitely using it.
WHERE/WHEN: Mexico Inside Out at Open Studio Gallery (401 Richmond Street West, 416.504.8238), January 6 to February 12, 12 – 5 pm, free; opening reception January 6, 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Cafe Con Pan at Lula Lounge (1585 Dundas Street West, 416.588.0307), Friday, January 7, 8 pm, $10.
Photos by Christopher Jones
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