October 2, 2015 Bogota, Colombia

October 2, 2015 
Bogota, Colombia

Growing up in the US I heard the same stories as everyone else about Colombia.

Corruption. Drugs. Kidnapping and ransom. Narcoterrorists. Pablo Escobar.

From the ivory towers in our suburban enclave, it seemed ludicrous why any sane individual would risk life and limb to visit such a dangerous place.

Hollywood drove the point home every chance they had.

When Harrison Ford’s character from the 1994 film Clear and Present Danger went to Colombia, for example, it was a nonstop onslaught of death and destruction.

And maybe that really was the way things were 25+ years ago. But the Colombia of today is totally different.

It’s astonishingly safe. Stable. Civilized. Extremely pleasant. It’s gotten noticeably better each time I’ve visited over the last 7+ years.

I don’t want to sell you a line of bull and pretend that Colombia is devoid of challenges.

Violent crime still exists, and paramilitary groups still operate in limited capacity in rural areas.

A tourist was killed recently as well… though this strikes me as a hollow criticism given that hardly a month goes by anymore in the US without a mass shooting.

The country risk in Colombia is clearly not zero. But the risk is nowhere near what it used to be… or what people still believe it to be.

Yet even though things are so much better now, the Hollywood reputation from a quarter of a century ago still lingers, which means that the perceived risk is very high.

The actual risk, on the other hand, is dramatically lower. Colombia is incredible, far better than most folks could possibly believe without seeing it for themselves.

That’s one of the reasons I travel so much-- I put boots on the ground and see firsthand what’s really happening… and determine for myself what the REAL risks and opportunities are.

And real opportunities do exist anytime there is a major difference between perceived risk and actual risk.

Look at the US banking system, for example.

The perceived risk is very low. Few people ever question the sanctity of hallowed financial institutions in the Land of the Free.

But the actual risk is much higher.

US banks’ own financial statements are a testament to their dangerously low levels of liquidity, and the pitifully disingenuous accounting tricks they use to hide losses.

When the actual risk is much higher than the perceived risk, it’s time to get out.

In Colombia’s case, it’s the opposite. The actual risk is much LOWER than the perceived risk.

Colombia is ‘priced’ like it’s still that same ultra-dangerous country it was back in the 1980s, suggesting the high-risk perception persists.

Its reputation… the Colombia stigma… has been a major drag on asset prices for years. Which means that for anyone who understands what’s really happening in this country, high quality assets are available at a major discount.

Especially right now.

Because on top of the Colombia stigma, the emerging global recession has caused a decline in asset prices, including stocks, real estate, and the currency.

In US dollar terms, the Colombian peso has passed 3,000 per dollar, more than 30% weaker than its average over the last 10+ years.

I’ve been writing extensively about how overvalued the US dollar is.

Colombian assets, on the other hand, are dramatically undervalued.

Herein lies is the opportunity: trading an overvalued paper currency with pitiful fundamentals for undervalued, high quality assets in a country with a bright future.

If you’re adventurous, get on a plane. You won’t be disappointed.

Colombia is fantastic, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised, not only at what you find, but at the high quality private businesses and properties that are available for an unbelievable bargain.

(More on this next week).

If your schedule’s too tight to make a trip down, consider taking a bit of Colombia exposure in your investment portfolio.

There are a number of Colombia ETFs available to buy without leaving your living room that offer ownership in Colombia’s largest and most successful businesses.

Many of these companies are trading at multi-year lows, selling at a discount to their net asset values, and pay strong dividends upwards of 5%.

No one has a crystal ball, and it’s possible that Colombia might become even cheaper. Or stay cheap for years.

But at these levels today, the country is already an incredible bargain.

Either way, it should be on your radar.

Colombia is starting to get more attention, and that’s only going to continue. Soon, I expect this place will become the next great tourism, lifestyle, and investment hotspot.

As long as the Colombia stigma persists, it’s one of the best-kept secrets in the world.

But it won’t remain that way for long.

Artist Statement

"Magic Realism of Luisa Cohrs"

Spontaneity and experimentation allow my work to develop without interruption from my conscious self. My inquisitiveness and curiosity fueled by my travels, readings and personal history all combine to inform my work. I initially became aware of handkerchiefs during the Colombian drug war where waving the soft white cloth by the victims became a prayer for peace. In many parts of the world great food is often served on doilies. In my childhood this usually denoted that the creator had devoted much time and love to the meal’s preparation. Colombians ate food off of these doilies as the protestors waved handkerchiefs in the streets. Thus, I found the juxtaposition of the hankies & doilies to be particularly powerful and infinitely malleable symbols upon which to focus the current work.

To see more of Luisa's paintings, please click here. 

Sun Commenrcial

At Art Space Vincennes

Magic Realism of Luisa Cohrs

Beginning July 3, 5-8 pm during the First Friday Art Walk, Art Space Vincennes will open with Magic Realism of Luisa Cohrs.  The exhibition will continue through August 15.

An overview of Luisa Cohrs’ work immediately evokes an enigmatic energy. Vaguely familiar abstract shapes take on a presence, ghost-like and figurative, as in a strange, but seductive, dream that one wonders about throughout the following days.  The subject matter, hankies, doilies and other remnants, are charged with memories from a past, from someone, even some place, previously known.  They are a form of autobiography or a diary of visual connotations. The objects not only symbolize Cohrs’ mother in Colombia; they visually become her mother in these images. In this sense they are surreal.

Cohrs was born shortly after the end of the Colombian civil war (1947-1959), the residue of which lingered through the survivors on both sides, her mother for one, and funerals of others who participated.  To a child’s eyes and ears, such post war atmosphere even years later, stamped the awareness of disruption, reorganization, caution, and the winds of danger, hope and relief. That was this child’s normal.  Moving to the States at 16, she found a new normal, young, positive, and hopeful.

As Cohrs matured, she, as we all do, recalled the things of her past:  her friends, acquaintances, her culture, the objects in her house, her family’s identity, her country, feelings, the color and music of South America.  Her MFA show in graduate school was titled “The Scent of Bitter Almonds Always Reminded Him of the Fate of Unrequited Love”, words taken from the first lines of the book Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  Marquez and others are known for their South American genre of literature called Magic Realism.  The surreal qualities of Cohrs’ work remind one of Magic Realism, which can be also associated with other visual artists. This artist was apprehensive about the association earlier in her career, but now can accept it, as her work now stands on its own.

Such stylistic company implies another dimension to these private reminiscences—social consciousness and political symbolism—which, perhaps, relate to the roles that her family might have taken during the turmoil of her native country. In any case, these images speak with a personal elegance, power and authenticity rare in contemporary art.

Art Space Vincennes is at 521 Main Street Vincennes, IN 47591 and is open for viewing 12 – 5 pm Tuesday thru Friday and 11-2 on Saturdays. Questions? 812-887-6145.

"The Gesture and the Fold" 

By: KJ Baysa

This striking body of work that Luisa Cohrs has prepared for her upcoming exhibition in Indiana reflects her diligent research methodologies, excursions abroad, and memories of her South American birthplace through the lens of history. The artist left Colombia at 6 years of age, and the gestures of white handkerchief-waving citizens lining the streets for the funeral processions of assassinated individuals were subsequently imprinted. The shape of a paper airplane, representing her intrigue with traveling, is conflated with its twin leitmotif: the outline of the waved handkerchief that embodies the binary readings of hope and of resignation. She prints with her hands and body weight, manually folding and pressing the inked three- dimensional fabric that is transformed into the two-dimensional image born onto her paintings. 

The prints retain the topological folded space qualities of volume: the elaborated ridges of the folds create negative spaces, and these darkened areas are redefined as light. Besides the handkerchief, Cohrs assimilates another icon of genteel society from childhood memories: the culture and class-related doily, which she deploys as a stencil, repeating the image in several works. Drawing on prosaic items from the quotidian, like staples and tags, her process includes spray paint, a contemporary conceit, in contradistinction to her elegant use of sanguine, the iron oxide-containing clay favored by 16th century artists. 

Her other mark makings are deft deliberations of liquid and charcoal graphite that effectively center, balance, and anchor the overall compositions worked with acrylic and oil pigments over moist and dry canvases. Through this body of accomplished work that plots personal and psychic cartographies, Cohrs acknowledges the blessings of daily life and of a collective memory, underscoring her commitment, as a consummate artist, to social responsibility. 

Mural In LA