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MUSEO
ALAMEDA PRESENTS SAN ANTONIO – The Museo Alameda – the nation’s largest Latino museum and first formal Smithsonian affiliate – announces the creation of Mexico at the Museo a unique and wide-ranging collection of three exhibitions of Mexican and Mexican-American art from the 16th century to modern times. The group of exhibitions, the first of which opens June 25 and runs in phases through February 22, 2009, is the first of its kind to be staged in San Antonio. All were created and curated in Mexico and in the United States and feature artists from both countries. Mexico at the Museo comprises works from three recent exhibitions which have traveled the world to great acclaim: “Myth, Mortals and Immortality: Works from Museo Soumaya de Mexico,” “Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art From Mexico City” (from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago), and “The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present” (conceived and curated by the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, formerly known as the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago). “Myth, Mortals and Immortality”(June 25, 2008 to January 6, 2009) explores issues that define Mexican art and have prevailed throughout the centuries: the fusion of indigenous and European traditions, the role of Catholicism in the country’s idiosyncrasy, naturalism and fantasy, the search for identity, rituals surrounding the mystery of death and life, social activism, and the emblematic icons of “little dolls,” suggestive female patterns of sensuality and evocation. Featured artists include José Juárez, Cristóbal de Villalpando, Hermenegildo Bustos, José María Velasco, Rufino Tamayo, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Juan Soriano, Jorge González Camarena and Jesús de la Helguera. “Audiences will be exposed to the multiple facets of Mexican life and culture in this unique exhibit,” said Eliseo Rios, interim director of administration for the Alameda National Center for Latino Arts and Culture, the organization which operates the Museo Alameda. “It will help tell the story of how all of these elements have combined to form the diverse cultural mosaic of Mexico’s identity – and how that identity carries over to the Latino experience in America.” The artists examined in “Escultura Social” (July 31 to October 26, 2008)– most of them born in the 1960s and 1970s -- re-shaped the context of contemporary Mexican art in the 1990s and through their current work, continue to have an impact on the international art world. All aspects of popular culture and their influence on art will be examined, including television, music, advertising and even flea markets, as well as the impact of current political issues that make this contemporary art transcend Mexico and speak to people everywhere. Featured in the exhibition are such artistic luminaries as Carlos Amorales, Daniel Guzman, Los Super Elegantes, Maria Alos, Stefan Bruggemann, Julieta Aranda, Nuevos Ricos, Miguel Calderon, Pedro Reyes and dynamic young architect Fernando Romero. (It would be great to list all of the artists) The exhibition is curated by Julie Rodrigues Widholm, Pamela Alper Associate Curator of the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art and will be on view July 31-October 16, 2008. “The African Presence in Mexico” (November 12, 2008 to February 22, 2009) is the largest and most comprehensive project of its kind ever presented, featuring artwork, video presentations, poetry and more. It showcases African contributions to Mexican culture. The project examines the missing chapter in Mexican history that highlights African contributions to that country over the last 500 years. It also offers an unusual opportunity for African-Americans and Mexicans to celebrate a unique bond: the fact that the first free town of formerly enslaved people in the Americas was founded in Mexico (Veracruz) and that this has resulted in an ongoing cultural tie that has only strengthened with time. The exhibition is curated by Sagrario Cruz-Carretero and Cesáreo Moreno.
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