Roughly translated, PUNTO ACTUAL suggests, “what’s happening now” an appropriate appellation for the fine design concept store with TRAEGER & PINTO. Renowned Mexico City curator and gallerist, Gerardo Trager from PUNTO ACTUAL lives up to its name with an impressive array of upmarket design elements and masterfully curated gallery of serious contemporary art.
Traeger has the charming demeanor of someone at home in the world– at ease chatting in English, Spanish, French, or German. Unsurprising, considering the trajectory of a career spanning 40 years and proven track record as curator, educator, gallerist and global gamut of art world credits throughout Latin America, the United States, Europe and Asia.
When Gerardo shoots what appears to be a casual glance at a new painting, it is actually the highly informed gaze of someone with a black belt in art history. He lives and breaths art the way most of us do air and water. He homes in on what he describes as “works of art that are purposeful or even provocative… quality, in terms of technique, composition, materials, concepts, etc., that are impeccable. But the most wonderful part is to connect with the artists.”
At age fifteen, with earnings from his first employment, he longed to acquire a Tamayo, but short on sufficient funds, settled for another painting. His passion for art impelled him to study art, befriend artists, and organize art exhibitions at his parent’s house. After a brief stint studying psychology and communications in college, “I realized art was my vocation, my life,” he concedes. “From then on, art has been my life.”
“I moved to France, lived in Paris, studied painting two years at L’Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and art history for ten with the eminent art historian, Yolanda de la Cagiga. At that time, I had the privilege of meeting Santos Balmori…” the acclaimed Spanish-Mexican artist who studied with Salvador Dali and Remedios Varo and taught at
Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas, Mexico City, influencing Rodolfo Nieto, Pedro Coronel and Juan Soriano.
“Balmori was a guide, a father figure, a teacher in life and art. He has been a great influence,” explains Traeger, gesturing to a Balmori painting, titled, Mujer, Niño y Gato: Oil on linen, 90 x 120 cm that demonstrates Balmori’s mastery.
Punto Actual Gallery, Fábrica La Aurora, Local 4B, en San Miguel de Allende.
