"Between the Colors of Water and Fire"

Contemporary Magic and Mysticism

Exhibition of paintings by Rafael Ortega during the Days of the Mexican Culture in Bratislava and Modra, Slovakia.
from May 24 to June 20, 2007

The inauguration of the exhibition of paintings by Rafael Ortega, entitled "Between the Colors of Water and Fire" was held at the Gallery of the Cultural Center of Dubravka in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, with more than 100 persons in attendance. Within the project "Visions of a Mystical World", on which the artist Rafael Ortega who is a resident of Bahias de Huatulco, Oaxaca, has been working for more than a year, this exhibition in the heart of Central Europe represents a recovery of the main expressions in the art, myths, and legends of the pre-Columbian cultures in a modernistic reinterpretation. The same exhibition has already been presented in two other important locations, first at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Vienna, Austria, and the other at the Museum of Oaxacan Painters in Oaxaca City.

The presentation hopes to give validity and promotion to those expressions, so that they may not be forgotten in the past, but rather come awake with renewed force in a present time which adopts them as its own.

As with the exhibition in Vienna, this project represented a new opportunity to promote the State of Oaxaca and Bahias de Huatulco as tourist destinations at the main travel agencies and Secretaries of Tourism in Slovakia and in the City of Prague in the Czech Republic.

The official inauguration was carried out by the Minister of the Embassy of Mexico, the Vice Mayor of Dubravka, the Rector of the Slovak University and the Coordinator of the Days of the Mexican Culture, Professor Dana Pastekova. This new exhibition was held in Slovakia with the support of the following public and private institutions:

• The Secretary of External Relations
• The Embassy of Mexico in Austria
• The University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia
• The Secretary of Tourism for the State of Oaxaca
• The Secretary of Culture for the State of Oaxaca
• The Municipality of Santa Maria Huatulco, Oaxaca
• The Hotel Association of Bahias de Huatulco, Oax.
• Various businesses in Bahias de Huatulco, Oax.