“Sunny people and weird expats,” says Jorge Pardo when asked to describe his fellow residents of Mérida, Mexico.
The Cuban-American New York-based artist has lived in Yucatan’s capital for 20 years, ever since he first visited on his honeymoon, reports Surface Magazine in a story posted today. “Mérida is still here, the wife is gone,” he jokes.
His Santa Ana house was previously featured in Architectural Digest. Now he dispenses advice to new visitors.
“There’s a very pleasant deadness to this place,” he says, citing the “undeveloped art scene” (Surface’s words) as one of the city’s biggest draws.
“It’s nice to come home to a place that operates at a different pace, to work in a more chilled-out environment. It’s always warm here. It’s a town that’s stuck in the ’70s—there’s only a handful of things to do and for me, that’s more than enough.”
