For many years, Heriberto Maximiano Carrazco Figueroa, or “Beto,” was one of the many vendors in the Álamos Municipal market. The spae he rented was one of those running down the central aisle of the enclosed shopping area; it houses a variety of stalls and small shops, offering all the basic necessities for day-to-day living in this small Mexican pueblo. Beto’s spartan stand offered a limited selection of fruits and vegetables--six, maybe seven items at the most. Onions, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, bananas, and oranges--that was about it. Depending upon your view of life, you might say that his counter-top display appeared half-empty, or half-full, on its best days--a parallel to Beto’s life, perhaps.

Beto’s haircut was reminiscent of the 60s Beetles era. The dark shock of hair that hung across his brow and down into his sad eyes gave him a quiet, somber look which matched his demeanor: never gregarious or outgoing, always quiet and introverted. Beto never married, and lived alone.

Beto was religious. I always saw him in church on Sundays. While at his market stand, he would sometimes spend his idle time reading the Bible, all the while smoking cigarette after cigarette! When he fell ill last May, he was ultimately diagnosed with lung cancer--so far advanced that nothing could be done for him. He departed this world in August of 2009.

Oil painting was the other way that Beto passed away idle hours while tending his vegetable stand. When I did my market shopping, I would observe him applying paint to a gessoed board onto which he had sketched some version of what was always the same scene: the Álamos plaza with palm trees, kiosk, and church as focal points. His palette was a family of greyed, muted tones--sadly “blah” colors, much like Monet’s later-life, vision-impaired works. But this was a reflection of Beto’s life. Painting after painting had that same simplistic melancholy appearance and feel to it. The finished canvases adorned his work area. Tourists were sometimes attracted to his austere interpretations of the plaza, purchasing one of the scenes to take home.

The artist in me always wanted to stop and talk “shop” with Beto. What got him interested in painting? Was he self-taught? How long had he been an artist? Which media did he enjoy working with most? What was his favorite subject? Oh, how I was always tempted to buy him some big, fat tubes of bright, juicy paints--colors like vermillion, opera, lemon yellow, leaf green, and peacock blue! But, alas, I never did, and then he died.

The city of Álamos recently displayed a retrospective of Heriberto Maximiano Carrazco Figueroa’s paintings. Over 100 Alamenses and North Americans inaugurated an exhibit of 70-plus works brought together from private owners spanning 50 years of Beto’s artistic efforts. Most attendees were surprised to see his earlier pieces had been actually a bit more colorful, and the subject matter somewhat more varied--but all embodied his distinctive style of brushwork. A realistic mock-up of Beto’s work station allowed us a personal glimpse into the artist’s inner sanctum where his religious beliefs, poetry,and artistic hand all met the canvas of his soul, leaving us longing to have him back among the living once again. It was a very nice event, although someone commented it was a shame it couldn’t have happened before Beto died.

And, of course, they were right.