CONTEMPORARY MEXICAN ART

Mexico has been a country where art has developed prolifically since its beginnings, with pre-Hispanic cultures. Naturally, being a country full of colors, folklore, nature, gastronomy, traditions, mysticism and diversity; It has also been a great source of inspiration for its artists.

GLANCE OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN MEXICO TODAY
To talk about contemporary Mexican art is to talk about an infinite number of techniques and themes that explore every corner of our culture and reality. Currently, plastic art in Mexico is increasingly recognized internationally, positioning itself as a focus of interest in the exploration of current issues.

It is important to assume that the rupture that gives rise to contemporary art arises after post-revolutionary muralism, transforming into a more individual art, leaving behind nationalist themes as such and allowing itself to explore the different forms of being in its environment.

In Mexico and Latin America, diversity leads us to live a magical and fantastic reality. Mexico itself is considered a surreal country, said by the surrealists themselves at the beginning of the 20th century. Daily life is largely influenced by myth, traditions, ritual, and this is reflected in the range of artists, works and techniques that the art market in our country has offered since centuries past.

Mexican art is a constant reflection of our roots, of our multicultural identity. Cities like Oaxaca have been a nest of recognized and talented artists, thus becoming "the mecca of Mexican contemporary art." Francisco Toledo, Rodolfo Morales, Rufino Tamayo, to mention just a few of the Oaxacan masters, positioned Mexican art with a style , technique and color management outstanding at an international level. Currently, there are several artists such as Jorge Vidals, who makes an exhaustive search to achieve the balance between the superimposition of works and color, with a surreal style and a constant search to represent Mexican culture from various perspectives; or Didier Mayés, whose works are dominated by abstract shapes created from the point and the line, where he plays with space to achieve a visual balance between color and form. Play is an important element in his work, since it takes us back to childhood. Both are great exponents who continue to position Oaxacan art as a unique and dynamic proposal that is attractive to the eyes of collectors around the world.

In reality, we can find fresh, original and innovative proposals throughout the entire Mexican territory, works that offer a critical perspective of the problems and phenomena that current Mexican society faces. Globalization, technological advances, the constant questioning of beauty canons, new forms of consumption are debates that are reflected in the different artistic manifestations, from which new aesthetic challenges arise, opening the way to a new visual language of art. contemporary in Mexico.

It is an important moment for our country since there is constantly a broader cultural offer that gives rise to both established and emerging artists to position themselves on an international panorama. International art fairs have found an offer of artists, and at the same time an interested public, which has opened the doors to an enriching cultural exchange for our country, positioning us as one of the main interlocutors of the art market in the world.

New opportunities for change arise from ruptures that force us to explore innovation, creativity and drive us to look for new ways to address social problems. In the last decade, it has been characterized by exploring figurative painting, installation, performance and conceptual art, constantly manifesting themes of gender, identity, inequality, migration, violence, among other topics. Thus, contemporary art seeks to transgress: the modes of representation and their function in society.

On the one hand, there is a strong movement that has challenged aesthetics, explored innovative techniques and adopted other international styles and trends. On the other hand, there are several artists who have achieved an interesting encounter between artisanal techniques, popular artistic manifestations and contemporary art.

It is inevitable that art has become a cultural consumer good in the current era. Simply because we live in a capitalist and globalized world, and artistic expressions have had to adapt to that to survive. Even so, contemporary art in Mexico constantly seeks to put its symbolic value above its monetary value in the market. It seeks to influence the viewer in such a way that that experience "does not have

at price.

There are several museums that have done a great job of valuing contemporary art, both by Mexican artists and international exhibitions for the Mexican public. Among the most important are: Museo Tamayo, a contemporary art museum in Mexico par excellence; the MUAC in Ciudad Universitaria in CDMX; the Chopo University Museum that opens its doors to young and emerging artists; Digital Culture Center, where proposals for the union between contemporary art and new technologies are exhibited; Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey, the Raúl Anguiano Art Museum in Guadalajara, among others.

In addition to the museums mentioned above, there are several galleries in the country that have made great efforts to give a space to contemporary Mexican art, always looking for new ways to promote artists in both the national and international markets, and at the same time, position Mexico as one of the main powers in the art world, since there are new proposals, languages and a whole generation of artists that increasingly attract the attention of international audiences.

AURA GALLERIES, A UNIQUE SPACE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART IN MEXICO
Aura Galerías has been opening its doors to contemporary Mexican artists, both emerging and established, for 40 years. Being one of the most exclusive galleries in Mexico City, we work with artists who in their work show an infinite variety of techniques, styles and themes representative of contemporary art. For example, Carlos Vivar is one of the most recognized painters of contemporary Mexican art, sculptor, self-taught in a creative and figurative way. His works reflect a strange combination of passion and sweetness, fiction and symbolism about sand and a mixture of colors in different textures full of emotion.

José Antonio Gurtubay, on the other hand, is a Mexican teacher, architect, painter and sculptor, one of the most recognized contemporary artists in Latin America. His "naive" art style, his shapes and colors take us back to childhood, play, innocence, in addition to constantly referring to the great cultural wealth of Mexico.

Olivia Guzmán is a recognized representative of contemporary art in Mexico. Throughout her career as an artist she has worked with clay, cement, fiberglass, resins, bronze and marble. Her works often have a “broken” or “incomplete” appearance, part of her constant search to represent human vulnerability.