John Richmond is a Canadian, who was born in Toronto and now lives part of the year in Ajijic. He is a painter, muralist and cartoonist, who graces the pages of this publication with his monthly feature, Hola Mexico (page 31). For the past seven years or so, he has gone by the name of Juan Compo, which is the name he signs his paintings with.
In school, because he was advanced twice, he was always younger than the other kids. That fact made his life a bit difficult. His story is about a super-talented boy who did not fit.
He was amazingly creative and showed talent in painting from an early age. He was urged by his teachers to enter an art school, which he did. John grew up with his grandfather's watercolor paintings hanging on the walls of the family home. In part, this may have been the inspiration for becoming the artist he is today.
For four years he taught art in the school where he studied, and for seventeen years in another school.
In 1990 Richmond arrived in Ajijic. During his walks around town he found the Galeria Di Paola, managed and owned by Maria di Paola Blum.
The relationship started with a conversation, which ended with him agreeing to take some of his work in the shop. To his surprise, his pieces started selling very well, and he started to have a local following.
During this time, Richmond had started painting murals. There are four in the area: one on the front wall of the Galeria di Paola, which graces our cover this month, two in private homes, and one where Barbara's Bazaar is located.
He has also tried with varying success to mount interesting local art projects, although they have not always worked out that well. Once he tried to form a group of lady painters to work on a mural which was high above the ground. It was a complete failure: the ladies were not willing to climb up on the ladder and work, so the project never got "off the ground" so to speak.
Regarding his art, Richmond prefers it to be positive rather than negative. He highly respects originality. He explained - "I don't want to copy or paint the artists I like, the same as I don't want anyone copying my style."
He also mentioned about art, how sometimes it can be a glorification for murder or pain, negative aspects of life. He'd rather stay on the nice flowery side of the road, as I understood him.
Definitely, the little I have seen of his work has a fantastic quality to it. By looking at his art, one imagine's that John lives in a very colorful interior world.
His basic and central premise is to make art fun. Richmond feels really satisfied when people enjoy his paintings. He thinks artists should be more like peacemakers rather than to expose the cruel side of human behavior.
Galeria di Paola is preparing for an opening cocktail party April 10, 2003, to show a retrospective of Juan Compo's work dating from the time of his arrival in Mexico. Be sure to stop by before May 9 when the exposition closes.
