>But in Spain, Tamariz is an icon, less like Blaine or David Copperfield and more like Kermit the Frog.<p>As a spaniard, I think this is a great way to put it.<p>It's not that we consider him a clown, or aren't aware how extraordinarily skilled he is. It's just that he's got such a one-off charismatic personality that your mind ends up classifying him as something separate from reality.<p>There's no need to set a stage or act like he's an otherworldly being. Tamariz just strolls by looking like he's just out of bed, casually defies physics laws, says goodbye and walks away, because he's Tamariz; in the same way that the Roadrunner can keep running through the drawing of a road because he's the roadrunner.<p>It's just the nature of things.
If you like Juan Tamariz, have a look at some of Dani DaOrtiz routines, another Spanish magician heavily influenced by Tamariz.<p>This one from 2022 for Penn and Teller is amazing: <a href="https://youtu.be/5_KcQt0z-eE" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/5_KcQt0z-eE</a>
If you enjoyed reading this article, you’ll probably also enjoy Joshua Jay’s book How Magicians Think. Among other things, he describes the experience of spending a few days visiting Tamariz.<p>There’s a significant number of magicians worldwide that have learned Spanish just to spend time around Spain and around other Spanish magicians.
If you can read Spanish, I suggest you "El cerebro ilusionista: el cerebro detrás de la magia" (The magician brain: the brain behind the magic). It explains you the link between neuroscience and magic tricks.<p>If you are learning Spanish, technical/science books share lot of Romance origin words which already exist in English, so half of the road it's paved to begin your learning path.
No video?<p>Found this one: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=alfwdvQaLIE">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=alfwdvQaLIE</a><p>New to me but I'm a fan.
Magic is a foreign world to me, but through acquaintances I had the pleasure of getting to know a close-up magician named Armando Lucero, who (I'm told) is considered one of the best in the world. I was invited to see him at the Magic Castle and it blew me away. It really was a childlike experience. But one of the most amazing tricks was a time some years later when I was traveling in another city, rented a car and drove around aimlessly till I found myself at a strip mall coffeehouse, and sat down with some coffee. At some point I turned around and sitting at the table behind me was Armando, wearing black, by himself with a coffee, a strip of felt and a deck of cards on the table. Practicing. It was an incredible coincidence. And I got a personal show.<p>The thing that really strikes me about this article is how the magician's philosophy of his art is so similar to what I've heard Armando wax poetic about: He studies neuroscience and psychology, has contributed to brain imaging studies, and seems irrepressibly fascinated with learning about complex subjects... not so much in the service of magic as out of a staggering intellectual curiosity. Magic is just his ideal vehicle for synthesizing that knowledge. It's unbelievably impressive, like watching someone who's thinking in the Assembly Language of the human brain.
His student Dani Daortiz is amazing to watch.
<a href="https://youtu.be/5_KcQt0z-eE" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/5_KcQt0z-eE</a><p>The explanation of this 10 minute act using a non-gimmicked deck of cards is 3 hours long.
<a href="https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/card-magic/dani-daortiz-fool-us/" rel="nofollow">https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/card-magic/dani-daortiz-fo...</a>
NY Times. I gave them money for a subscription. I'm fine with that. What I found to be just enough of a deal breaker is the ads remain as a subscriber.
I had the occasion to see him at a little place in Madrid specialised on magic shows a couple of decades ago ("La Cripta Magica"). He was already a legend by then after years and years of TV apparitions here in Spain.<p>After the show, he went down the stage, set up a table in the middle of the venue and asked people to gather around him for a couple of more tricks --obviously this was also part of the show. Those days smoking cigarettes was allowed, and he managed to put some cigarette ashes inside the closed hand of my girlfriend while doing his thing. I was at, what, one meter from him, and knew he was doing something that was not related to the card trick but couldn't for the life of me guess what it would be. He doesn't stop talking, joking, guides your eye to where he wants it to be, throws decoy tricks to make you thing you got him, but then the trick is somewhere else... also a very nice and charming chap.<p>If someone deserves to be called a "magician" it's him!