Place to see: Galería Arte de Oaxaca, Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico

About this place:

When I first visited the Galería Arte de Oaxaca on a Saturday afternoon, ducking in from streets busy with slow-moving tourists. Yet despite the day, the glass-roofed central courtyard was filled not with visitors, but construction workers assembling what was presumably a new exhibit. In the salons, the exhibits were also in transition, with one set of paintings hanging on the walls, another leaning against them. Perhaps just as El Pochote is reflective of Toledo’s preference for simplicity, perhaps so too this gallery reflects a rather relaxed attitude of its deceased benefactor, Rodolfo Morales. Regardless, the gallery offers a fascinating selection ranging from glass work to painting to pottery. Housed in a colonial building four blocks from the city square, the gallery has long been a staple of the Oaxacan art world, counting more than 20 years in existence. In whatever state you see it, you’ll quickly see why.