MEXICO AT FOTOWEEK DC

dialogues in mexican photography

The Mexican Cultural Institute is pleased to join FotoWeek DC with two exhibitions highlighting Mexico’s vibrant photographic scene. The first floor galleries will present an exhibition of photographs from one of the most important collections in Mexico, that of the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City. The exhibition will include more than 60 works by over 30 artists, offering a comprehensive look at 20th century photography in Mexico from some of the century’s most important photographers, like Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Agustín Jiménez, Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, as well as contemporary artists like Graciela Iturbide, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, and Lourdes Grobet. The images range in style, from avant-garde classical images, to late modern works and photographs that explore images as aesthetical constructions.

The fourth floor galleries will feature the work of 5 contemporary photographers, Mauricio Alejo, Iñaki Bonillas, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Melanie Smith and Laureana Toledo.  Together, the exhibitions allow the viewer to witness the wide range of Mexican photographic expressions and creates the possibility for dialogues between generations, themes and approaches to the medium.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: THE MEXICAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE WILL BE CLOSED FOR THANKSGIVING WEEKEND (NOV 26 - 29, 2009)

Gallery Hours: Monday — Friday 10:00 am - 6:00 pm | Saturday: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

The Mexican Cultural Institute would like to acknowledge the support of:

The first floor galleries will present an exhibition of photographs from one of the most important collections in Mexico, that of the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City. The exhibition will include more than 60 works by over 30 artists, offering a comprehensive look at 20th century photography in Mexico from some of the century’s most important photographers, like Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Agustín Jiménez, Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, as well as contemporary artists like Graciela Iturbide, Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, and Lourdes Grobet.

The exhibition is organized in six different themes that highlight artistic similarities over time; the images range in style, from avant-garde classical images, to late modern works and photographs that explore images as aesthetical constructions. This unique approach allows the audience to engage with seemingly disparate artists in new ways, providing an opportunity to learn about and appreciate Mexico through photography.

Photographs courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City

The fourth floor galleries will feature the work of five contemporary Mexican artists who use photography as well as other media: Mauricio Alejo, Iñaki Bonillas, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Melanie Smith and Laureana Toledo, organized jointly with one of the best contemporary art galleries in Mexico, OMR.

Mauricio Alejo is an artist based in New York and Mexico City. Since 1990, Alejo’s work has been exhibited internationally. His photographs and videos record everyday objects, sometimes cut or painted, set up in absurd arrangements.

Iñaki Bonillas is a sculptor, installation artist and photographer living and working in Mexico City. His recent work is based on the photographic archive of his grandfather and family. The unfolding of photography, and reflective exercises regarding light and time are elements that appear as recurrent patterns in Bonillas' work. His exercises, strongly multidisciplinary, have become emphatically analytic and aesthetic discourses on the concept of photography.

Melanie Smith was born in Poole, England and has lived in Mexico City since 1989.  Through diverse formal and thematic techniques, Smith has done a multiple aesthetic exploration of the Mexican megalopolis. Her work that comes from the daily life, refers to visual structures derived from the culture of the capitalist globalization of the so called third world: street commerce, the logo invasion, advertisements, visual stimulants, among others.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is a photographer, sculptor and electronic artist who develops large-scale interactive installations in public space, usually deploying new technologies and custom-made physical interfaces. His work in kinetic sculpture, responsive environments, video installation and photography has been shown in three dozen countries, His work is in private and public contemporary art collections such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Jumex collection in Mexico, the Daros Foundation in Zürich and the Tate Collection in London.

Laureana Toledo lives and works in Mexico City. She started her artistic career as a photographer before branching off into other mediums, including drawing, painting and video.  Her work highlights the conflicts arising from simultaneous representations of different forms of communication and language; her art can be viewed as a progression that revolves around photography as an instrument to register diverse meanings.

Photographs courtesy of the Galería OMR. Mexico City

Together, the exhibitions allow the viewer to witness the wide range of Mexican photographic expressions and create the possibility for dialogues between generations, themes and approaches to the medium.