Beautiful art from Baja on view in Bonsall

BONSALL – The Z Café and Art Gallery will exhibit art from two international artists – Jean Angel Castillo and Polo Valencia Garcia – for the next three months. The artists, whose studios are in Baja California, are represented by Trynna and Gary Kemmer, who grew up in Southern California and are travelers of the world, naturalists, and photographers.

Over the years, the Kemmers spent much time in neighboring Baja, where they met some of that area’s highly accomplished artists. These artists have shown in the US, Europe, South America.

Born in 1949 in Zacatecas, Mexico, Castillo is known as a master of color. He is represented in the collections of Mexican government officials and diplomats, and such celebrities as Ringo Starr, Frank Sinatra, Red Skelton, Leonard Nimoy, and Russell Crowe.

Castillo’s father disapproved of his son’s artistic desires, but his mother gave support by taking him out at night to the barn, where he practiced sketching by candlelight. Unable to afford formal art school, young Castillo paid for mail order classes by selling newspapers and taught himself.

This exhibition shows his love of the Baja region in his paintings of rock formations/mountains, deserts, and cliff top views of the pounding surf or open ocean. In addition to his landscapes, viewers might also enjoy his abstracts.

Polo Valencia Garcia began painting when he was 12 years old. His colorful and detailed oil paintings are of the natural world around him in Baja California, Mexico. Thirty-five years ago, his father brought him to work cleaning brushes for the well-known impressionist artist Paco Garcia. Luckily, Polo was accepted as his student for the next 14 years.

After leaving his teacher, Polo set up a gallery in Baja and became popular in the art world, regionally, and then internationally. His work is included in the director James Cameron’s collection, as well as Mel Gibson’s, among others.

Garcia’s gallery is not only open for sales, but to help others and he mentors young aspiring artists. Never without a smile, he reflects the joy in his paintings.

The Z Café and Art Gallery is located in River Village in Bonsall. It is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.