Robert Pace Kidd & Polos Gallery

Jorge Meraz: Today, on "Crossing South," we meet a cowboy-surfer-artist who has carved his place in the world and the hearts of many fans, and we explore a collective full of artwork in southern Rosarito, and it's coming to you now.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Jorge: You know, it's no secret that Rosarito, in Baja, is an expat community.

A large contingent lives here.

Many folks retire here in Baja because of the cost effectiveness, because--listen to the ocean.

You can hear it right here.

You're a block away from the water, so why wouldn't you retire in a place like this?

But we're gonna talk to a very particular old-timer today, and he's an artist, he's a cowboy, he's a surfer, and he has a very unique art that has taken him around the world, and we're gonna get to know his story.

His name is Robert Pace Kidd.

It's "Crossing South," folks.

Don't go anywhere.

We're gonna get to meet him.

Jorge: So, were you a cowboy, for real, or did you ride?

Did you-- Robert Pace Kidd: Oh, I rode, but, no, cowboy, for real, no.

I never worked as a cowboy but-- Jorge: It's just a style.

It's the style, the cowboy style?

Robert: Well, no, I was raised, hunting and fishing.

We packed ourselves in.

God, as a young kid, I worked at the polo fields.

Jorge: Oh, really?

Robert: Yeah, I took care of two horses from Santa Barbara.

They taught me how to ride and do polo, and--but, yeah, no, it's, just, it's been a lifestyle.

Jorge: Yeah, for sure, it's a great style.

I love it.

What's your story?

So where are you from originally?

Robert: California, for the most part.

Jorge: California.

What part?

Robert: Started very down south--or very up north in Santa Barbara and then just-- Jorge: Worked your way down, 'eh?

Robert: --slowly migrated.

You know, high school, college, was all Orange County, and then after four years in the service, Philippines, then Vietnam, then I came back, and I was livin' in Encinitas, and I loved that.

You know, that's early '70s Encinitas.

You remember how that was?

Jorge: Is that a good surfing spot there?

Robert: Oh, it was great, and I lived right across the street from it.

Jorge: Did you do any surfing in the service, in Vietnam or-- Robert: Yeah, in the Philippines.

I'm actually in the Philippine Museum as one of the first surfers, Philippine Surfing Museum.

Jorge: Oh, really?

Robert: Yeah, it just happened about four months ago.

Jorge: Oh, my goodness, hah.

Robert: So that's kind of cool.

Jorge: Right, for sure, for sure, being part of history.

And did you start as a kid in California, or where'd you start surfing?

Robert: Oh, yeah, I mean, this is--we're talking grade school, so in the '50s, '60s, I was out there.

I started with, you know, the inflatable mats.

Jorge: Okay.

Robert: Then, from there, the first surfboards in all through high school and college, and, yeah, then I got a ticket to New Zealand.

Immigrated in New Zealand, Australia, spent about a year of that on the road there.

Jorge: What were you doin' over there?

Robert: New Zealand, basically just backpack, surfboard.

You could hitchhike anywhere on those two islands.

Jorge: Oh, really?

Robert: Oh, god, yeah, they're sweet people, just the most hospitable.

Jorge: Oh, man.

Australia too?

Even though it's kind of metropolitan--?

Robert: Eh, no, sometimes, in Australia, I told 'em I was Canadian 'cause they really picked on the Yanks.

And headed for Darwin, and from Darwin to Indonesia, and got the airlines ticket, and I came back and got an $80 Chevy and moved to Mexico.

Jorge: What an amazing adventure Robert has lived.

I wanted to know how the locals in all those Southeast Asia locations reacted to seeing him catch waves for the very first time.

This is their very first glimpse of a man standing on a piece of wood, or whatever the surfboard's made of, and riding waves.

That must've been something.

Robert: Yeah, you'd gather such a crowd.

They thought it was an airplane part, and when I was out in the water, they were like-- fishermen were like, "Whoa--" Jorge: "What is he doing?"

This is the man who rides the waves, right?

Robert: Yeah, yeah, I mean, there's photos of me with water buffalo crossing the river where I'm surfing out front, you know?

Jorge: Right, right, oh, man.

Robert: Yeah, but it was great people, great country, good diving.

Jorge: Are you still surfing right now?

Robert: Absolutely.

Jorge: How old are you?

Robert: Seventy-seven, and except for an occasional car accident, I'm usually out there, you know?

Part of my life.

Part of my life.

Jorge: You're living the life, Robert.

You're living the life.

I'm so happy for you.

Jorge: At 77 years old, I was definitely impressed by Robert still catching waves.

How often do you go surfing?

Robert: When things are physically up and running, you know, it's just as often as the waves are good.

Jorge: Wow, and to what spot?

Do you go here, Baja Malibu, off of your house?

Robert: Well, this is getting to be consequential over six foot.

This is a pretty serious wave.

Jorge: Oh, really?

Robert: Yeah, so when I'm in top shape and the waves are just right, 6 foot and under.

Over 6 foot, I go down to K-38.

Jorge: K-38.

So you do go all the way down there.

Robert: Yeah, and I ride the longboard down there, and so I can handle anything double overhead, whatever it takes.

But here, this'll beat you up.

Jorge: Right.

So then, you stop here because you used to surf here in-- Robert: Oh, I still surf here, but it's just gotta be within the right conditions.

It starts getting much overhead, it's a tough paddle out.

There's not a channel to go out.

Jorge: Okay, so you'd be rolled over and, you know-- Robert: I'd be--yeah, I'd be blown pretty hard by the time I got outside.

Jorge: But there's more to good ole Robert than surfing, so we wanted to dive into the part of his life that brought us to him: his art.

Jorge: How did you go from a surfer to sketching, to drawing, to painting?

Robert: Ha-ha.

Jorge: Did that start as a kid or out of some point-- Robert: Always as a kid, my dad was in the Navy, but he was also a saddler and a gunsmith, and he worked for Weatherby when he got out of the service, and he would make these presentation cases that were just gorgeous and do the engraving on the rifles and all that, and I'd learned how to do leather work with him, and so we'd go to Montana for elk season or something, and I'd be in the back, stitching up saddlebags for one of our rancher friends that I've made, you know, that sort of thing, but when I started traveling Australia, I started carving leather.

I'd been carving characters in leather, which most people don't, and there, I started seriously doing it, and hell, I took one in to a framer's, and, you know, they bought that, and they said, "Bring us more."

Jorge: Oh, really?

They like your-- Robert: Yeah.

Jorge: Did you, like, draw on the leather, or do you go as you're carving?

Robert: Oh, no, god, that's what saved me.

I can't sculpt anymore.

I've worn the wrist out, but I always did preliminary pen and inks-- Jorge: You did.

Okay.

Robert: --because everything, impression, you put on leather is not erasable.

Jorge: Exactly.

Robert: And then the same with the colors, so I would do watercolors after that, and then I would go to the sculpture in leather 'cause that would take a month and a half.

Yeah, so I did that for 35 years.

I sculpted leather, mostly portraits-- Jorge: And carved.

Sculpted and carved leather?

Robert: "Carve," "sculpt," I use the terms interchangeably.

Jorge: So are all your paintings, like, carved leather, or do you do any painting as well?

Robert: Everything I do now is pen and ink, and watercolor over pen and ink.

Jorge: How can it be watercolor?

I thought watercolor, kind of, like, you know, does its own thing, you know?

How-- Robert: No, no, it's that I use it more opaque than most people would.

It's not a loose watercolor.

It's a very tight watercolor.

But that, enhanced with--you know, the pen and ink enhances it.

Jorge: This is from a photograph that you did?

Robert: Yeah, this, actually, this is Kumeyaay matriarch.

Two--I've done about five portraits of her.

Her granddaughter used to come to the shows because she didn't speak any English, and so I'd translate for her, and, when she brought the grandparents, I asked if she'd sit, and she said, "Yeah."

Jorge: So did she have to sit for this portrait or off a photograph?

Robert: Off a photograph and sketches, yeah, yeah, both.

Jorge: It's beautiful.

Robert: Thank you.

Jorge: Wow, it's--wait till you get close, then you see the strokes, you know?

When you--you don't--you see it's so natural from a distance.

Robert: Yeah, it-- you know, that's the reaction I'm lookin' for.

I love it.

You know, that's great.

Jorge: It's not till, like, you get really close and you see, "Oh, it's pencil.

It's not a photograph," you know?

It's so realistic.

Jorge: It's astonishing to see how much work goes into these art pieces.

Robert gladly showed us some of his work in his home, most of which can easily be considered worthy of being in a museum.

Robert: This would've been the first step in doing the leather because I would've had to carve each one of these lines.

I couldn't erase them.

Jorge: So that's all pencil, you're sayin'?

Robert: Pen and ink.

Jorge: Pen and ink.

Robert: And I finished that one in leather, and, oh, god, was it good.

Jorge: Oh, really?

Heh-heh.

Robert: Oh, yeah, it's already gone.

That's one that, just, I used to bring to the show just to demonstrate, you know?

Jorge: So you start with a painting, and then you carve this.

How do you protrude this?

Do you have to, like, press it with--like, emboss it, or do you-- Robert: No, you actually-- I don't have a tool much bigger than the tip of my finger, but this, these lines were actually cut, and hammer all of this back, so this would be "Tap-tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap-tap, and then you go to the next level.

You'd cut again, and you'd bring that back, leaving this looking forward.

You've actually compressed that leather which is really only, like, built thick.

At least that gives you an idea of the relief so you know now, if I carve that woman, you know, the Kumeyaay, it would've been just-- Robert: She's a Tahitian royalty.

That's just carved in leather.

Got me a round trip to Tahiti for two-- Jorge: Oh, nice.

Robert: --and a whole house to stay at for a month, for the guy had started the big contest there.

So they showed us incredible hospitality.

On the full moon, September, for, like, 35 years, we've had what we call the Full Moog, and that's all my surfer buddies, kids I've known since they were 15, 16, cuttin' school to come down here, right?

And every year, I'd do a T-shirt.

That's this year's T-shirt.

This is a 1926 Dodge truck door, and this is what we call Una Copa Mas, the original pen and ink and watercolor-- Jorge: Yeah, one more cup, one more drink.

Robert: And that's where this started.

I had to do a "Day of the Dead" show here.

They gave me two days warning.

I sketched it out with my anatomy books and all the rest of that, and I'm lookin' around, and, oh, god, I didn't have a frame.

I had an old radiator sitting over in the corner.

I slapped it, and I got high fives, and everybody's like, "Yeah, that's cool," you know?

Jorge: Oh, my goodness.

Robert: So rust never sleeps.

Jorge: You know, that right there could be a metaphor for Robert's life.

I wanted to know how his artwork is being received both here and also how his art has fared around the world.

Robert: I've always been a guest artist here to display at exhibitions like the Rosarito Art Fest.

I was there for every art fest, and great reception.

You know, all the people-- especially the leather, because that one, you know, everybody, their hand went out, you know, "I wanna touch this."

Jorge: Right, and actually feel all the protrusions, the indentations.

Robert: Yeah, 'cause it looked like an oil painting, and then the reflection would catch it.

So I well in the states, going to like Beverly Hills Art Affaire, La Quinta.

I had a dealer in Chicago that dealt my art, so we went to the Artforum in D.C. We did a show at the Stock Exchange, just below.

The bank actually owned the Stock Exchange and Grand Central Station there in Chicago, and so we had all our stuff, myself and the fellow with the round resins, and that was a hoot.

Jorge: Is there anywhere fans can acquire your stuff or-- Robert: Yeah, you can go on Facebook and go to my pages.

Jorge: Is it under your name, "Robert Pace Kidd"?

Robert: Robert Pace Kidd, and then-- Jorge: And that's where we can find it?

Robert: Yeah.

Jorge: And you-- Robert: I keep up on that, and then I have a print company, called Fine Art America, that has all of the stuff that I have in print-- Jorge: Okay, okay.

Robert: --even the ones in leather.

It supported me.

It helped with raising my kid, which I did alone here and-- Jorge: With your art?

Robert: With my art.

And it's been the entree to a lot of wonderful people like--oh, 2001, we went to the pyramids in Teotihuacan and did murals with Art Miles Mural Project.

There was me and three other people, 1,500 kids, 5 by 12 murals, and let them paint as they wanted, and this was right after 9/11.

They were scared to death.

You can see it in the paintings, you know.

You could see bombs.

Jorge: It reflected.

They reflected that, yeah.

Robert: Oh, yeah, yeah.

So, I mean, it got me to do stuff like that.

Jorge: What a delightful encounter.

Never had I imagined to find such an interesting figure here near a beach in Rosarito.

Baja California is the runway where Robert Pace Kidd has decided to make a soft landing in his well-traveled life.

Jorge: Your art has taken you around the world.

It's allowed you to sustain your family, put your kids through life, send them on their way, and also, it kind of-- you know, Mexico, you made a life here in Mexico.

Well, how does has that been as, you know, you're settling your life?

Robert: It just became logical.

I mean, when I first moved down here, I was young.

I found this surfing beach here.

I found this place for practically nothing per month, you know, and so I bought this.

Met my wife down here.

Jorge: Oh, really.

Robert: Yeah, yeah, she's Americano though, but we had our kid.

He was born here.

Jorge: Wow.

Robert: And, just, lost the wife but kept the kid, and things went on pretty good.

Jorge: Very nice, Robert.

It's been interesting to meet you, see you, all the decor you have, you know, the ambiance that probably, you know, motivates you and is conducive to you executing your art, right?

Robert: Yeah, this fits my art, and my art fits this, you know, that's for sure.

Jorge: Rosarito is definitely one of the art hot spots in Baja.

So we decided to stay a little longer and check out a gallery that encompasses this perfectly.

It's a hidden gem of a place that has become a one-stop shop for fine art.

Jorge: You know, Rosarito has a lot of talent, many artists as some that we've met and we featured on the show.

There's a gallery that we're in right now, literally across the street from the studios, the film studios.

I think they're called Baja Studios now.

And across the street, there's a art gallery, called Polo's Art Gallery, and we're gonna explore it right now, and the person that's gonna guide us, our Sherpa, is standing right here next to me.

How're ya doin'?

Rocio Hoffmann Silva: Hi, nice to meet you.

Jorge: What's your name?

Rocio: Rocio Hoffmann.

Jorge: Rocio Hoffmann.

Talk to me about this place.

The artists that bring their works here are from, where?

Are they all Mexican, all American?

A little bit of both, or what is it?

Rocio: More Mexicans and Mexican from the region, and they are well-known, even some of them international.

Jorge: Oh, really?

Rocio: Yes, but this is-- this place is a strategy for the Americans that lives in the area.

That's why this gallery have a lot of success, not just where the space is located.

It's because they have the best quality around, Northwest Mexico.

Jorge: So it's not just, like, a tourist thing.

It's an actual gallery that's recognized, and in the Northwest of Mexico, it ranks up there in quality?

Rocio: Yes, and we have artists that sell their work in the states, ten times higher than here.

Jorge: Oh, really?

Rocio: Yes, that's why Mel Gibson-- it's his favorite place to come to buy.

Jorge: No way, no way, but he comes and shops here?

Rocio: Yes, shops.

And James Cameron bought some pieces from different artists here.

Jorge: Really?

Rocio: But Mel Gibson is-- quite often, he visits one or two times a year, and he sent us people, and he's very nice, simple man, really.

Jorge: Very chill, right?

Rocio: Yes, yes.

Jorge: I must say, I was really impressed that "William Wallace" himself shops for art here in this place, so to find out why this is, I asked Rocio for a private tour.

Jorge: Okay, Rocio, why don't you show us some of the stuff here.

Give us an example of, you know, this artwork: Who does it belong to?

What style?

Whatever you can tell us from it.

Let's start with this wall.

Rocio: This is Becris.

Becris is a local artist from Tijuana.

He paints the local fishermen here from Popotla.

Jorge: Do they know?

Have they seen it?

Rocio: They know, and they know because he goes there and paint very elegant and all these dirty people around.

Jorge: They're workin', and he's doin'-- okay, hah-hah.

Jorge: Yeah, it's a little bit romantic because about how he paint them.

And this is exactly what James Cameron bought from Becris.

Jorge: Really?

Rocio: Yes, very fine work, the light, the water, the transparency--everything.

Jorge: We actually got to meet Mr. Becris.

He was visiting while we were shooting.

That's him looking at his painting.

Rocio introduced me to another person, not face-to-face but by way of his art, an artist that could very well become my favorite one of all.

Rocio: We have Juan Angel Castillo.

He's the most well-known artist for landscape in Baja.

And from his Quixotes.

Jorge: Okay, so he likes his Quixotes.

Jorge: And that right there is a very interesting denominator among Hispanic artists.

The painting of Quixote portraits, it's almost like a rite of passage.

Rocio: This is from Francisco Cabello.

Cabello is Lucy de Hoyos's husband.

Jorge: And is that his likeness?

Rocio: No, no, no.

This is-- Jorge: He painted it?

Rocio: It's a painting of Quixote.

Jorge: He painted it?

Rocio: Yes.

Jorge: Okay, he painted the Quixote.

Not just Quixote, but it's like his imagination, right?

Rocio: Yes, yes, because-- Jorge: The hallucinations that he had.

Yeah, the windmill, the dragon that are represented.

Rocio: Everybody paints their own Quixote.

Yes, not that-- most of the artists.

Jorge: Is that particular to Baja, or other parts of Mexico love Quixote too?

Rocio: In Mexico because many lawyers collects Quixotes, and that gives to the artists a way to live.

Jorge: By this point, it was starting to become very obvious that there was one particular artist who's really standing out for me, who was really catching my eye.

I was beginning to become partial and to have a favorite.

Jorge: So this seems like a very classical style.

Who made this?

Rocio: But this, Juan Angel Castillo.

Jorge: Juan Angel Castillo, oh.

Rocio: Juan Angel Castillo is a very versatile artist.

Jorge: Well, what style would you call this?

Is it an oscuro, or what is it?

Rocio: It can be a Chiaroscuro, but a modern Chiaroscuro because you can see the strokes like a impressionistic maybe.

Jorge: Yes, impressionistic, Chiaroscuro.

Rocio: Yes, a mixture because, you know-- Jorge: Is this real?

This is like--you know, this could be the Louvre, I mean, kind of over-- Rocio: Yes, he's very good.

Jorge: But it's, I mean, the style, right?

Rocio: Yes, he's very good.

That's why he's the most famous.

Jorge: Okay.

Jorge: And just like that, it became clear as day.

I was a Juan Angel Castillo fan.

Jorge: A lot of it is really cool, but I'm starting to see that I'm a Castillo fan because I like this one, too, and I just saw the name.

It's Castillo.

Rocio: That's why he's the most seller because he keeps-- Jorge: Hey, I didn't know that.

I just know-- Rocio: No, no, no, no, that's good.

That's fair because he's very good.

Many artists start to live in these different places, bring pieces here, but because of the market, they come to live here.

Jorge: Okay, this is where it sells?

Rocio: Yes, and-- Jorge: So you could be in Mexicali, you can be in Tijuana, but if you're selling here, this is where you're gonna come?

Rocio: Yes, and Rosarito became the most important community with artists.

Per capita is the higher community from artists, Northwest Mexico.

Jorge: Really?

Rocio: The people that comes to live here, they really help the community.

They make foundations.

They help kids, from starving kids, and people that they have money to--they have scholarships.

Many foundations fund scholarships.

The American community is wonderful here.

Jorge: Wow.

Jorge: I was really glad to find out that Rosarito Beach is such a hub for artists and that, at the same time, their presence contributes to the community.

We continued our tour, and I noticed that, by now, I was, in fact, starting to understand the art I was seeing a little bit better.

Rocio: Navarro is one of the oldest, classical artists.

He studied in Mexico City in a old school from Diego Rivera and all these masters.

They create this academism, but he create his own language with many colors.

Jorge: But, you know, with all the Navarro paintings that I'm seeing, you know, what jumps at me is not the color.

That's not the common denominator for me.

You know what the common denominator is?

Rocio: What?

Jorge: The eyes in all the subjects.

They all have either looking straight at you or have a very distinct feeling in the eyes.

Every single one that I've seen has very determined eyes.

Jorge: Before the end of this visit, Rocio still had a very important analogy that really resonated with me.

It made me understand the mind-set and dynamic of artists and their creations.

Rocio: You take out all the feelings as an artist making an art piece, but how the people receiving in their brain-- both: --is different.

Rocio: That's why their art is very personal.

Jorge: For sure.

Rocio: It's like your sons.

You take care of them, but they have to fly.

Jorge: They have to fly.

Rocio: They have to fly, and you are not jealous that somebody loves them.

You love that somebody loves your kids, and the same happen with art.

You are pleased that the people take care and love your art.

Jorge: Rocio, thank you very much for showing us what is essentially like a hub of art in Mexico, international hub of art in Mexico.

We didn't even know this place existed, but now--now you folks know, out there--they know that it's here.

Thank you so much for guiding us.

Rocio: Thank you.

Jorge: It's "Crossing South," folks.

We've got art, lots of it, in high quality that you can get here for a fraction of the cost.

This is a nice find.

We hope you appreciate it.

Jorge: So, after getting to meet this old cowboy-surfer artist and finding "the place" to get high-quality fine art in Rosarito, we leave this town, wondering what we shall find the next time we get to cross south.

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