Mexico City Art Week continues to stun viewers with a vast line-up of local and international artists alike. Below, we’ve compiled some of the best Mexico City exhibitions on view now at LagoAlgo, Proyectos Monclova, and Galería RGR.
“Capítulo V: Heat” at LagoAlgo
February 9-July 2024
Julian Charrière, “Vertigo,” 2021, installation view, Soothsayers, Dittrich & Schlechtriem, Berlin, Germany, 2021, Copyright the artist; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany, Photo by Jens Ziehe.
This week, LagoAlgo debuts a stunning array of four exhibits by international artists centered on the red-hot theme of combustion in “Capítulo V: Heat”, curated by Cristobal Riestra and Jerôme Sans. French-Swiss artist Julian Charrière presents a series of large-scale film works and volcanic sculptures, using shots of imploding fireworks and vast California oil fields to ground viewers in their beautiful, dying Earth. Russian-born American Ebecho Muslimova brings her signature burlesque, contorted female bodies to LagoAlgo, marking her debut in Mexico City. Muslimova’s imposing, sensual bodies are splayed all over the gallery walls, as if to suggest the combustion of the female body. The Spanish artist Ana Montiel invites viewers to witness her entoptic paintings—sprawling swaths of vibrant spray paint decorating the gallery walls—and immerse themselves in a feeling of liminality.
Alongside these exhibitions, LagoAlgo will also host an extensive program of cultural activities during Art Week.
Karen Rodriguez’s “El Poeta y el Calígrafo” at Proyectos Monclova
February 6-March 2, 2024
Karen Rodriguez, “El Calígrafo BF,” 2023, oil pastel on wood, 11.81 x 8.66 x .98 in.
In her 1967 essay The Aesthetics of Silence, Susan Sontag posed the question: How literally can the notion of silence be used in respect to art? With “El Poeta y el Calígrafo,” Mexican visual artist Karen Rodriguez continues the intergenerational effort to answer this question and make silence material. The exhibit comprises a litany of hypersaturated, shimmering clay sculptures, each turned vibrant after baking in an uber-hot kiln.
Rodriguez began her work for this exhibition with her research, which she transcribed in oil pastels, colored pencils, and ink on canvas. From there, these two-dimensional works were cast upon clay. There is specific attention paid to the extensive negative space between each letter, each word, suggesting moments of visual pause. It is here that the silence lies.
“El Poeta y el Calígrafo” is part of Proyectos Monclova’s new initiative to showcase artists without gallery representation. From now on, the gallery will exclusively dedicate the second floor of its space to such artists.
James Benjamin Franklin’s “Something in Mind” at Proyectos Monclova
February 6-March 2, 2024
Courtesy of James Benjamin Franklin and Proyectos Monclova.
James Benjamin Franklin is infamous for his relentless material exploration, and his newest exhibition is a continuation of this effort. “Something in Mind” at Proyectos Monclova unites found textiles including carpets, kitchen rags, bathroom mats, plaster cloths, sand, and glitter. As noted by curator and historian Andrew Satake Blauvelt, some of the items Franklin uses are acquired as new—while others are sourced from Detroit thrift stores and the artist’s own home. In the process, Blauvelt remarks, “the prone canvas instead becomes a seedbed to collect remnants of everyday life or the detritus of the artist’s life.”
Eduardo Terrazas’s “To Weave the Possibility” at Proyectos Monclova
February 6-March 2, 2024
Courtesy of Eduardo Terrazas and Proyectos Monclova.
Mexican architect and artist Eduardo Terrazas debuts “To Weave the Possibility” at Proyectos Monclova this week, uniting artworks from four series spanning various mediums. There is a large-format soft sculpture, as well as a series of pieces composed of wool yarn glued to wooden boards. With this yarn, Terrazas creates highly geometric designs that create a point of gravity at their center. Honoring the tradition of geometric abstraction from the first half of the 20th century, the artist provides a series of works that seem to allude to both the universe and infinity.
“Playing with Closed Eyes, 100 Years of Surrealism” at Galería RGR
February 6-April 6, 2024
Courtesy of Mercedes Azpilicueta and Galería RGR.
For this year’s edition of Mexico City Art Week, Galería RGR reveals a group exhibition curated by Gabriela Rangel and Verónica Rossi. “Playing with Closed Eyes, 100 Years of Surrealism” features work by 25 artists, honoring the centenary of surrealism. Some of the founding members of surrealism were refugees in Mexico, and this exhibit works to both honor their legacy and interrogate the current permutations of surrealism.
Questions of artificial intelligence and machines both come to the forefront. Through artifacts, paintings, sculptures, drawings, documents, and photographs, this exhibition invites viewers to look at the century-old avant garde and probe our future reality. Highlights include works by Leonora Carrington, Francisco Muñoz, and Diego Pérez.
