I wanted to bring to life in an instrumental artwork, a mysterious and magical chance encounter I had with a Mexican farmer in Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico.
It was a sapping hot day in Palenque, I was walking down a dusty dirt road that led from where I was staying to the main dusty dirt road that led to the ruins I wanted to visit. As I came to the intersection, out from hiding behind a bush sprung this crazy looking Farmer.
The Farmer had an outlandish looking straw hat on, a face deeply tanned by the sun and was soaking wet with sweat, but the first thing that caught my eyes were his, wild and crazed eyes.
Out from under his t-shirt he pulled a bulging, rugby ball sized bag of mushrooms and started shouting Hongo’s Hongo’s, all the time darting in and out from behind the bush and looking around suspiciously.
It was a surreal moment full of colour and mystery, but I got the feeling he was tiring of hiding behind bushes in the hot Mexican sun and springing surprises on unsuspecting tourists.
When I found a Vegas Robaina cigar box that had what looked like a picture of the farmer on it, a vision of that moment came back to me in living colour.
The moment reminded me that if your work is your passion, don’t hide it behind a bushel.
SCALE LENGTH: 17” 430mm
ELECTRIC, RIGHT HANDED, 14 FRETTED TENOR UKULELE
