The Museum of Modern Mexican and Latin American Art

The Museum of Modern Art brings together artistic expressions of Mexicans and Latin Americans in five exhibitions

With five exhibitions, the Museum of Modern Art (MAM), part of the Museum Network of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (Inbal), offers its public an attractive artistic offer, among which Architectural Brutalism in Mexico stands out, a review of the architecture that took root in Latin America and Mexico during the seventies and eighties of the last century as a constructive alternative and that resurfaces in the second decade of our century as a response to environmental challenges.

Through a chronological tour of photographs, models, plans, sculptures and engravings, you can see the evolution of this movement in Mexico and its correlation internationally, through 65 projects, among which those that modernized the main cities stand out. of the country, such as the Guelatao Social and Sports Center, the Satélite Towers, the Friendship Route project south of Mexico City and important educational and cultural centers, such as El Colegio de México, the Sculptural Space of University City, the Otomí Ceremonial Center, Temoaya, as well as housing projects, among others.

All blood reaches the place of its stillness. Revisions of the legacy of Carlos Ashida (1955-2015), is a tribute paid to the Mexican curator and museographer through a journey that covers from 1980 to 2015, in which he promoted dialogue between established artists and new generations, It also opened readings on the local and national, developed proposals to establish the art market and artistic research in the country and promoted dialogues between the cities of Mexico and Guadalajara to decentralize the artistic scene.

The exhibition opens with the small format sculpture by Manuel Felguérez, Geometric Composition, and continues with a mixography by Rufino Tamayo, Red Mask, passing through tapestries by Mathias Goeritz, Rufino Tamayo, Terry Winters and Lisa Yuskavage, and exhibiting pieces of contemporary art by Abraham Cruzvillegas about boxing; by Fabrice Hybert about football, and by Alejandro Ramírez who rethink the image of Micky Mouse.

On the upper floor of the venue, Pop, Political, Punk is exhibited, which offers a look at the MAM's collection under these three critical positions that run through the work of some artists from the second half of the last century.

Pop, a concept that emerged in the post-war period and refers to popular and reproducible art, shows iconic pieces by Francisco Moyao and Kasuya Sakai, silkscreens by Víctor Vasarely, photographs by Lourdes Grobet on the character of Blue Demon and by Yolanda Andrade, Antonio Caballero , Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Héctor García, which show the cultural and urban imagination of Mexico.

Politico offers a critical overview of social reality, such as the engravings of the Taller de la Gráfica Popular; López Mateos destroys large estates, by Mariana Yampolsky, or The Cananea Strike, by Pablo O'Higgins; to Manuel Álvarez Bravo's photograph, Worker on Strike, or Gilberto Aceves Navarro's polyptych: Sad Song for Biafra.

Punk shows works crossed by the aesthetics of this movement that emerged in the eighties, such as the video Un kilometro, by Enrique Jezik; Adolfo Patiño's mixed production, In advance of future art MCMXVII; Paz Cohen's sculpture, Homage to Marcel Duchamps; the painting from the Visual Documentation Workshop, The Holy Lord of the Sidario, among others.

Oswaldo Vigas. Looking inside is a review of the work of the Venezuelan artist who died in 2014 and who was considered one of the most important painters of Latin American art of the second half of the last century, through a tour of 110 representative pieces of African and South American cultures. among them 27 works by Latin American artists, which illustrate the searches that the painter undertook.

The tour begins with a mural that shows various masks from the Incas, Mayans and African cultures, which refers to the interest he maintained in ancient civilizations, which he expressed through works such as Infant Witch, to move on to a look about his own country with works such as El alacrán or Yare.

At the same time, a dialogue is shown with artists of his time, such as the Mexicans Francisco Toledo, Rufino Tamayo, José Luis Cuevas, the Cuban Wilfredo Lam, the Uruguayan Joaquín Torres, the Brazilian Emiliano Di Cavalcanti or the Peruvian Joaquín Roca, among others.

It should be noted that, as part of its exhibition offer, the MAM offers its permanent Cimbra tour. Notes on the MAM collection, where the public will encounter iconic pieces, such as The Two Fridas, by Frida Kahlo; notes for The Syrup, by Saturnino Herrán; Still life, by María Izquierdo; The soccer players, by Ángel Zárraga, or Bohío maya, by Julio Castellanos.

The MAM can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. On Sundays it is free entry. Students, teachers and Inapam have free access with a credential. The Inbal campus is located on Paseo de la Reforma corner Gandhi s/n, first section, Bosque de Chapultepec.