Mexico Metropolis’s first industrial artwork gallery, Galería de Arte Mexicano (Gam), is marking its ninetieth anniversary with a commemorative group exhibition—and a mariachi celebration final week at Zona Maco.
Positioned within the leafy San Miguel Chapultepec neighbourhood, Gam kicked off its anniversary celebrations by opening a bunch exhibition that includes a number of the key artists which have come beneath its wing over the many years. Based by Carolina Amor in 1935 and shortly after led by her sister Inés Amor, the gallery initially promoted Fashionable Mexican artwork internationally. Inés Amor, a pioneering lady in a primarily male artwork world, achieved this primarily by connections with collectors, museums and galleries within the US, the place she showcased the range of Mexican expressions past the Muralist motion.
Over time, a key to the gallery’s survival within the altering artwork scene—the place native and overseas galleries have lately proliferated—has been its capacity to reinvent itself and keep related by exhibiting the massive names like Diego Rivera, Leonora Carrington and Rufino Tamayo alongside modern ones like Stefan Brüggemann. “Gam has at all times strived to remain up to date,” says Rafael Yturbe, the gallery’s co-director.
Set up view of Sic itur advert astra at Galería de Arte Mexicano Courtesy Galería de Arte Mexicano
The family-run gallery has modified palms throughout generations with Mariana Pérez Amor (Inés Amor’s daughter) and Alejandra R. de Yturbe following as homeowners, and their respective sons Juan Pérez and Rafael Yturbe becoming a member of subsequent to Patricia Torres. “The gallery has been my life,” Mariana Pérez Amor says. “That there’s a third era enthusiastically persevering with our life ardour is an important side for its future.”
The gallery has come to play an integral half in Mexican artwork historical past, taking part in additional than 2,500 exhibitions in Mexico and overseas, together with the landmark 1940 Worldwide Exhibition of Surrealism. Gam additionally holds an in depth archive courting again to its founding that incorporates data of artwork, artists and exhibitions, serving as a useful useful resource for Mexican and Latin American artwork.
“Inés had a powerful sense of order; she formulated a cross-referencing system for the gallery which remains to be getting used digitally,” Yturbe says. Moreover, by Sala Gam, an adjoining exhibition house, the gallery reveals rising artists—typically giving them their first solo exhibits. Yturbe provides: “Established galleries have signed younger artists after exhibiting at Salon GAM, which is a platform for them.”
To mark its anniversary, the gallery has organised three exhibitions, with the primary, Sic itur advert astra (“Thus one goes to the celebs”), opening throughout Mexico Metropolis’s Artwork Week in early February. “It has a historic focus, showcasing related artists the gallery has supported over time,” Yturbe says. (The gallery can also be exhibiting a solo exhibition by Andrea Villalón, an rising Mexican artist based mostly in London, at its Sala Gam house.)
Set up view of Sic itur advert astra at Galería de Arte Mexicano Courtesy Galería de Arte Mexicano
The group present can also be private: its curator, Daniel Garza Usabiaga, drew inspiration for the title from a phrase Inés’s father would inform the Amor sisters earlier than they began new tasks. Usabiaga additionally regarded into Gam’s archive and storage, incorporating some works from their assortment and others on mortgage. A framed be aware from the famend Mexican artist Chucho Reyes reads: “For Inés Amor, clever and beautiful pal.” The exhibition honours the gallery and the eclectic artwork produced over time by Mexican artists or these related to the nation, from Rivera and Carrington to María Izquierdo, Gunther Gerzso and Jan Hendrix.
Alongside its programming, Gam was celebrated on its Zona Maco stand in the course of the truthful’s VIP preview (5 February), when the truthful’s founder Zélika García introduced in mariachis and a three-tiered inexperienced cake.
Yturbe says the 90-year-old gallery has no plans to decelerate or relaxation on its laurels. Many tasks—together with a ebook for the a centesimal anniversary, digitising the archive, rising the roster of rising artists and collaborative exhibitions with different galleries—are within the works. He provides: “Native amassing continues to develop, thanks partly to Zona Maco, the parallel festivals and Artwork Week, which is optimistic for galleries like ours, the artists and the cultural scene.”
Sic itur advert astra, till April, Galería de Arte Mexicano, San Miguel Chapultepec, Mexico Metropolis
