¡Colores!; 1202; Los Escondidos; Ernesto Martinez Interview 1

You see more of the church in the background So that will work very well How many? Your name See they're never Their audience They're never going to hear my voice on camera So Also, let me Can I take the magazine from here? You want? Because we see the magazine in the picture So, so what? Excuse me? Yeah Yeah And we're going to see that Unless these guys give us some money And I want to put them in there And things, you know, there's no reason to I know it's sort of unnatural to have lights and stuff But there's no reason to be nervous, you know, it's just us But the light doesn't affect And I am taking medication, you know, that I'm not supposed to be out in this lot Or under sun lights The lights have filters on them And they're not at all They don't have the uB rays that the sun has So it's not at all like that It doesn't have the same damaging effects the sun has They're totally different

I mean, I wish I could say we could turn them off I know that bothersome is sort of unnatural But we need them so we can get the right So we can make you look, you know, as best as possible So let's first want you to Tell me your name, your whole name And tell me how long you've been working at the hotel I am Ernest Martinez And I've been here since 1954 Started working here in May 18th and 1954 At 10 o'clock in the morning Tell me the story about, like, great story about coming in And I know it wasn't quite Harvey I think it was one of his sons or something He came in and he said, we're not going to hire you No, no, it wasn't, it was a manager Tell me that story Oh, when I first came in, he said, uh, what can you do? And I said, uh, well, yeah First of all, I paint science And, uh, I paint, that's what I do But I also work with furniture And, uh, he said, well, we don't have any openings right now

He said, uh, but if you want to work two weeks While somebody's on vacation I guess we can accommodate you So, I said, fine, you know And, uh, he took me down to the basement there Where there was a mountain of broken furniture there And he said, can you fix any of the furniture here? And I looked after looking at a little bit And I said, yeah, I use the cane Pretty well, make something out of them And, uh, and he said, well, I guess you can work here I'm going to work here for two weeks So, I started working, you know, and, um, One week passed, and in a second week passed I didn't hear anything about anything So, I kept on After a month, uh, he came down to look at my work And he said, you know what?

This guy that went on vacation for two weeks Hasn't come back, it's been, we gave him another two weeks And he didn't come back So, if you want to stay, I guess we can Put you to work And I said, fine, I like to So, he said, come back, come up to the office with me I'll fix you up But we talked there, you know Till then, an application and everything Then, I said, well, you can go back to work, I guess When I was going out the door, he said, well, wait a minute I'm not through with you, come back And he said, we have a policy here You have to understand that, uh, you're going to be on On probation for 50 years And, uh, at the end of 50 years, if we like your work We might keep you here Said, now go on, I started going out the door And he said, come back again, I forgot something

We have this strict policy now That if you're going to die one of these days You plan to die, we'd like to have You give us at least three days notice I said, this is going to be a rough place to work, you know But I came down to work and down No, it was easy, you know what? You must, you must like this hotel And tell me, if you do what I mentioned, so yes I do And tell me, why did you like this hotel? It's opposed to working at like, you know, the Hilton Or, or, uh, super eight or any other place Well, why is it this hotel special? First off, I guess I get paid to do the kind of work that I like to do you know And then it's a homey place I feel at home here Just, just as comfortable as I can be, you know, so A time has gone by and I'm still here

You know, it must be something, I imagine that you quite don't think about it much But it must be something that, uh, sort of creeps into your consciousness every now and then Being that this hotel is so unique Unlike any hotel in the world and largely because of you I mean, how many other hotels have the original artwork And all its different forms and incarnations like this one? I don't know, maybe five in the world, maybe ten, I don't know But, none that I've ever seen So, what are your thoughts on that? I mean, this must be, in so far as being so unique Must be kind of a really fascinating place for you Come in and see all your artwork everywhere every day Is that special to you? Well, yes, but I'm used to it, you know But it does give you a good feeling because, uh, this eye What I think is that my work will be here for a while longer yet, you know Maybe I won't, but, uh, I think that

That's a good, that's a good, uh, that's very, very, that's a good thing to say So, you may not be here, you're impermanent I'm impermanent, these guys are all impermanent But the work here will be here for a very, very long time So, talk to me about that a little bit What do you want? Well, just talk to me about that I mean, the fact that, you know, the impermanence of us But the fact that this work is going to be here forever That must be, uh, kind of awesome in some way Well, it gives you a good feeling, you know, to be able to display your work Maybe even beyond your, your lifetime Um, okay, is that like the essence of being an artist? Is that what it's all about? To you? Yeah, I guess Um, let's shoot down for one second.

So, what I want to do is talk about the painting We shot some of that Tell me what you do here, all the different things we see Well, uh, like the painting is still, you know, I, it, the area that, uh, I'm going to work on I guess determines what I'm going to paint, you know, more or less Like, we go into a room A lot has to do with probably the color of the carpet or some other things, you know, or just the area itself That gives me an idea What? I need to paint in that particular room, and then if I move to another room, then it might be something else, you know Some other, uh, designs or colors or a combination or whatever And then we come to maybe a hallway And you see all these decorations and the whole way that are different everywhere

And that might have to do with the area where I'm working also It's not about, uh, doing the tin work Like what you're working on right now, tell me about that I have no idea what that is Why are you doing that? To start off, I started doing tin work because, uh, a lot of these artwork or tin work has been disappearing, you know There's only about 35 people in the whole state that do that kind of work anymore and, uh, before, say, 70 years ago, almost, uh, Every family had one in the family that I would like to work with tin, uh, and that, uh, the purpose was for their own decorations in their own homes, you know But, um, since times has changed, everything changes, so, uh, a lot of the people are not interested anymore in doing that kind of work or, or a lot of work that used to Okay, at one second, please, uh, I got, you know, what's been working on it?

Okay, okay, we got the interruptors, so tell me about the tin work again, if you would please Like, uh, just tell me about the, you said that there's only so many families in the Mexico that do it And, uh, then tell me, you know, that what we're going to do is cover your voice with pictures of you working on a tin, uh, things for them Well, right now I'm doing, uh, clinics boxes, you know, and, uh, doing one for each room, there are 167 rooms, and, uh, I've been doing it for a while, working on it for, uh, I guess, six months And I'm passed a halfway mark, and, uh, where's I have a 64 still to do it, you know, and, uh, I may be able to do it within the next three or four months, you know, besides other things that I do in the hotel Tell me, uh, the steps involved, you take a piece of tin, you cut it, explain to me how it all works, and then again, well, if you're going to do one, you know, take your piece of tin and cut it to size, bend it, size, shape it

But if you do more than one, you know, like I can work on, say 12 at a time, it's easier than making just one, because this tin comes in big rolls, you know, you spread the rollout, and then you, uh, mark each one next to the other one On the tin, and, uh, you work on all of them at the same time, then when you get ready to assemble them, where you just cut each one at the right line, and work on it, and you get it done, you know, you follow the other one How about the, um, tell me about the, all the windows that we see down like around Laplace, and I see a lot more in the hotel, but you paint on the windows, I don't know what that is, tell me about that

Well, uh, I started doing it because, you know, seeing the Placela is surrounded by the whole ways, and there's, there are glass doors, I guess, somebody felt that they wanted a little privacy while they were eating, you know, so what they, they asked me to do is to paint something on the windows that would, uh, kind of, uh, get an opaque color or, or, uh, two I see each one, you know, one of the things that man and I were so impressed with is that each one is like a little painting, some of them are very simple, some of them are more complicated, but there's like, there's like 300 little paintings down there 466, so tell, tell, you could tell me that in the whole sense, it'd be great, just say there's 466 paint windows, and each one is like a little painting, they're not getting out of my voice

Well, they're, they're not too alike, you know, each one is different, and, uh, so you work in one, and then you finish, you started the another one with a different subject or whatever And, and that's the way it goes, you know, each one is different Tell me a little bit about the, uh, the flower we saw, we saw you paint yesterday the geranium, we saw you paint one, and then at the end of the sequence we'll see them all But, so you do a lot of paintings on wall, on the walls or on your, tell me, since I don't know anything about it, tell me about what that is, what, what are you doing there? Well, first off, when we paint on, on walls, decorate walls, you know, we use the same kind of paint that the painters used to cover the walls in the paint wall, the works better And, uh, using that kind of paint gives it a better, a better, uh, look, you know, a better, better result, you get better result, the same kind of paint, different color, of course, you know

You, uh, get better results So, uh, is that a common thing that you do to paint like what we saw yesterday the geraniums? Uh, so I have no idea about any of this stuff, I saw what you did yesterday, tell me about it, talk to me about what you did, with painting dreams Well, I started with one, and then I had space for more, so I kept on going, you know, when I got past the window there, I had space for a lot of writers, you only painted one And, uh, it looked kind of lonely, I guess, you know, since everyone, it's a friend, I decided to paint another one along with it So, they'd be happy

It's very happy, because it's got lots of friends, they're gonna, how many geraniums are there? Why would say about 16? So, can you, uh, how am I gonna do this? Can you tell me, because we're gonna see one, you're working on, pulling out, we see two, you pull all the way down, we see 16 there So, you know, might be kind of neat to hear you say something like, well this is actually, this, it started out lonely but it's got lots of friends now, because that's what the truth is So, tell me, talk to me a little bit about that, about the fact that there's so many, it's kind of a theme going on there Well, I painted one, and I just kept on going, it's just like, like planting flowers, I would say, you know, because, uh, one, start with one, and I get a friend, and then another friend, I don't like to say neighbors, because it's better to say friends, you know So, fine, you and I got to where I have to stop

Yeah, I think it's cold here and here Well, I tried, but it doesn't work It's coming up now, but it wasn't water No, we sure Yeah, okay, what can we get for you? No, it's going good though, it's going great, it's going really good, I want to do a little tighter Yeah, let's go back to the tin, tell me about the process of cutting the tin, and then you put the designs in it, what is, how do you do that? And where do the designs come from, too? Nothing, it just comes to me, you know, like when I do a painting, I just decided to do some kind of a decoration, you know, and the way we do it is just with the punch and hammer And you get the hammer at a certain angle, at a certain distance, to have the same, the same punch in each one of them So, for the old, or come out even

Let's talk a little bit about the drawings of the murals that you do, like the ones in the garage, you paint all these different paintings on the wall They all, they're all, I mean, they're paintings They're not terribly, I mean, they're not as complex as some of the stuff you do, but they're all paintings And I see that they all have a certain, they're all kind of the same in certain ways Tell me, tell me about that, I don't know anything about that Well, the purpose of decorating those posters wasn't all to make them look nice, you know, it was because so people would see them and not bump their cars into them But as opposed to putting a big red sign, you could do something very nice Yeah, but this looks better, you know Yeah, yeah, how about this Christian? Yes This building, right, is like a big museum with your artwork in here, okay If I was some guy from out of town and I didn't know about the artwork, what kind of stuff would I find here that is your work?

And you could talk to me about the painting, you could talk to me about the painting, you could talk to me about wall paintings, glass painting, right? Yeah, what kind of stuff can you tell us, like that is your work in this building, like for instance, it's a tour, give me a tour, tell me about it And talk to me because it looks better on the camera that way, just look at this guy with the prettiest thing to look at Why what then? Well, basically to describe the hotel, if you were describing the hotel, someone would never have seen it And you'd want to give them sort of a tour of the hotel, it's like talking to them about it, you know Like for instance, you walk in the front door and immediately you're going to see my paintings and carvings up here And then there's, tell me, give me a tour of the hotel and your artwork, just from your memory Well, the first thing that you would come across I think is the area, the dining room, the area that I saw Or you'll see all the glass decorated and you walk down the whole way, you will see the skylights

And big paintings all around, you know, that were bare walls before I think you'd give it a better atmosphere than just a bare wall Down the whole way and into rooms, and I guess you can expect to see just about anything in the rooms All kinds of decoration from flowers to birds to just water It seems like one of the things about your job is that every day it must be different for you Because even though you're doing thematically sort of the same things, it's always different It's not like someone who goes to their office every day and types out the same form every day, every day, every day

Is that, tell me about that, is that true? No, every day it's something different You know, you come with to do something else, something different And to do something different every day you have to somehow acquire before you come in, I guess An idea of what you want to do or a feeling that what you want to do, you know, because I do a lot of different kinds of decorations Sometimes I don't know what I want to paint when I come in until I get to the area where I have to work Then some idea will come and then not just go to work Let's talk a little bit about your paintings So, tell me a little bit about your history as a painter

Now, I'm not talking about the whole tale anymore, I'm talking about your artwork I've seen some pictures of paintings you showed me I've seen your paintings downstairs in your office that is your work It's not, you didn't do it for the whole tale Why is it that you like painting? Since I was about six years old, you know, I started sketching And I sketched my friends in the classroom where my teacher And sometimes a teacher would scold me for not paying attention to the classroom work But, at the end, I made him happy by giving them the sketch that I had done So, I kept on going And I always liked to paint, you know, when I grew up about 14 I decided that's what I wanted to do

But, I wanted to learn on my own, not now I didn't want to learn on somebody else's styles, you know I wanted my own style So, I kept on studying by myself I bought books and read them and I painted all the time At one point, I went to a pub local rattle And I stayed in a hotel there, almost four months Just studying and painting And doing our jobs, you know, while I painted And then when I thought that I could probably work for somebody else doing that I came here to the hotel But, aside from the work that I do here, I also have my own studio where I paint for myself And I paint all the time

What I do is I work on three paintings at a time Because I start working on one painting and two, maybe two, three hours And when I get tired of this subject here I move to the next one I start over And if I get tired, I move to the last one, you know Then I stop, it's time to stop Until the next day or the next time, I feel like renting That's pretty interesting, so you work in three at the same time? Well, first, you know, I work on one for a while Like two or three hours and then Of course, you're going to get tired of painting the same thing Then you move to the other one with a different subject, different subject, something else And then you work while there and then you move to the last one

When you have worked total of eight or ten hours on all three of them That means you have to stop, you know, rest and for as long as you need to Sometimes two, three days or more Sometimes weeks before you get the urge to come and paint again Does working, having this kind of job, working in a place like this Give you inspiration or visit the other way around Is you working on your paintings at home, give you inspiration to come in here to work here Or do they feed off each other? Well, no, you know, since the work I do here is little Even though it's related or the same It's different from what I do at home You know, my paintings, my things at home Have a different, well, there's different subjects than what I do here And one doesn't interfere with the other one at all, you know

When I come to work here, I don't know what I'm going to do What kind of painting I'm going to do is It's just when I get started, then I get the idea that I want to work At home, it's different, I start painting Whatever subject I choose to paint, you know And I can finish it all in one day or maybe two days or three days But it's there, and I work on it when I feel like it until I finish it And here it's different, you know Maybe I'll finish my work in that area In one day or two days, they don't move to something else And that would be different And it all goes on Talk to me a little bit about What do you want to see?

What do you think? I mean, I like that shot I'm having a problem Is that the thermostat theory is still at 65? Do you want to hide? Well, I want at least 70 degrees, what the hell is that? Is that 85? No, but it's about the figures from the other one What are they registering? Okay, is this the single? Yeah, it's a little bit uncomfortable for me You're cold? Not cold, but I don't like it, I feel that Chili? Yeah You know I guess one of the things that I find interesting And we'll just talk a little bit about this And I know I've tried We've talked a little bit before about I'm going to go back to this again Because I want to hear There's something I I like to talk about this a little more And the fact is that there is There must be something unique

And there is something unique Among all the millions of people who work In their jobs every day And even the hundreds of thousands of people who work at hotels What you do is you need For a few people do that in the world It must be some sense of satisfaction Talk to me a little bit about Are we rolling? Yeah Talk to me a little bit about that About your job and how you feel about this And the fact that there are only a couple of people in the world who have jobs like this Well, I don't know about that But it gives me a good feeling To come in here And see all my work And some of the work that I see I've been here 30 or 30, 40 years I painted it 40 years ago and still here And I think that What I figured out Maybe what I paint today Will still be here

The next 40 years And I know that I'm not But it'll be there for somebody else to Look at and enjoy Is that give you a good feeling? It gives you a good feeling, you know It's a good accomplishment It's sort of awesome in some ways, isn't it? To think about that To think that Well, yes, you know You get a feeling that You die, but to keep on living maybe Absolutely What? Let's start over a second What are we missing? What am I, what am I forgetting about? What are you talking about, my Art work and, you know, that's What I do, so I don't know what I was talking about Did you, were you a various artist? No How come, how did you jump into it? Yeah, that's interesting, how? What made you interested? Why, why are you interested? I wonder sometimes

Because there isn't, I wonder How much? Well, hang on, we've got a bell Keep that five Don't bell I have a mask on it, I have a mask on it Yeah It's looking good, it's looking good It's going good This is really good This is very good This is, I don't know, you can tell It's just going very well I think you'll be very used to see this You'll be very happy to see this I don't know You will But it's sure as neat, you know Because most hotels, they would paint Like a big red striper A sign like in the garage, so someone wouldn't get it But instead, you go down and you paint a beautiful painting That's very unique Again, I, I could be wrong But I don't think there's many places in the world that do that Maybe you could count them on both your hands, I think Well, how are you going to, yeah, be wrong Well, I think it's better to see something nice Anywhere you can see, then, then, you know, something that's not interesting So, when did they become an artist?

You say that you're one or sometimes that I mean, so, because my mom was an artist So, sorry, I wanted to be an artist too But, from that, I mean, I think I think that you're born with it You're just like every other profession Being a priest, maybe, or, you know But sometimes, I wonder if I didn't get into a wrong field Even though I'm satisfied with the kind of work I do, you know I'm happy and I get rewarded for And all that But now, the rhyme