The girl Luisa paints the animals. Thanks for she got rid of this habit.

German Robledo was painting his neighbor naked. But then came her boyfriend and beat him up. WIth this retablo, German thanks Saint Patrick for he has already come out of the hospital and has presented charges against him.

My husband entered in the mid-life crisis. As much conservative he had been, he suddenly became a hippy. The worst part was that he left his office job and started to paint. He even painted our house in various colors. I prayed the Virgin of Guadalupe so that she would bring him back to his senses. But the Holy Virgin, in her infinite wisdom, made so that one gallery began to buy his paintings. Now they have bought all his works because it turned out he was really a good artists. I want also to thank the Virgin because he has repainted our house back in white.

I thank the Virgin of Mercy for inviting famous modern art collectors to my studio. They took all my sculpture to a gallery in Hermosillo, although they still haven’t paid me a dime.

Leon, May 1963

I dedicate this retablo to Saint Barbara for giving me the inspiration to create my own miniature village in the sale of the great Giorgio de Chirico.

December 23, finding myself in doubt about continuing my career as an artist, I decided to make a video with one of my performances. I asked the Virgin for the video being successful so I’d have more confidence. The video had more than 50.000 views, and I was very happy. Thank you, Virgin. I love you.

Intton Godelg

H. J. thanks for she is being very popular as a nude model for art workshops. She brings this retablo as a testimony of this big favor done to her by Saint Pancras.

An artist Gaudensio Ponce made a full-nude image of a wrestler’s wife. He thanks Saint Pancras for the wrestler liked his work and didn’t beat Gaudensio.

— It’s work…
— The most important thing is work…

To the ghost of Andy Warhol and the attitude of Lou Reed. Keep me on the straight and narrow path of hard work. As Alan Davie wrote to me “Magic (in art) comes from lots of hard work—No easy way!”

25th March 2007

Mrs. Maria Duran was gifted an antic painting that turned out to be very valuable. She brings this retablo to the Merciful Lord thanking for her good luck.

Nobody wanted to buy the artist Pedro Macias’s landscape paintings. He thanks Saint Michael the Archangel for giving him the inspiration to paint ugly devils which turned out to be very lucrative.

Virgin of Mercy, I thank you. Although there is no knowing when the works on avenue Masaryk will end and, therefore, nobody can enter my restaurant, I was able pay salaries to my staff when I found an Aztec pot and sold it to the Zona Maco [art gallery].

Happy chilango (Mexican)
April 2014

I give thanks to the queen of my fatherland, Saint Mary of Guadalupe, for giving me health and a job to tell these stories about the revolution that goes on even now. This great woman, Elin Luque, opened the doors of the Casa Lamm for me. She is doing a marvelous work saving and protecting the value, customs and tradition of the Mexican exvoto. Because the art is a miracle that never dies. Till I have faith, hope and love, I swear my brushes speak for my fatherland.

Alfredo Vilchis Roque
Corner of the miracles
Minas de Cristo, Mexico
January 2011

Elin Luque Agraz is an art historian, curator and director of the Casa Lamm Cultural Center in Mexico.