Major retrospective of Damián Ortega, one of the main exponents of contemporary art in Mexico

MARCO in Monterrey presents the largest retrospective of Damián Ortega, one of the main exponents of contemporary art in Mexico
The artist, winner of the prestigious Zurich Art Prize 2023, shows for the first time in Mexico and Latin America his artistic production of more than 30 years of work

Damian Ortega

He is one of the most valued contemporary artists in the art scene in Mexico and Latin America and for the first time he will bring together a great retrospective of 30 years of work in an exhibition in a Latin American country. It is about Damián Ortega, pico y maíz, which delves into the production of this famous Mexican creator, whose work has been exhibited in renowned museums and galleries in Europe and the United States, such as the Tate Modern in London; the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art; or the Botín Center, in Santander, Spain. On this occasion, says the author, he is interested in exposing the production and industrialization processes and also the decline that this industrial work has suffered in the countries that have advanced the most in this form of production.

The retrospective will open to the public at MARCO from August 26 and will be available until February 11. Visitors will be able to appreciate many of the works that have made Ortega famous, who has won the prestigious Zurich Art Prize 2023. Ortega has generated great international interest with many of his works, such as the 'vocho' that he disintegrated piece by piece and suspended from the ceiling, a work that he named cosmic thing and revolutionized the art scene at the Venice Biennale in 2003.

On this occasion, the curatorship was in charge of José Esparza Chong Cuy and from MARCO they explain that the author uses the beak and the corn "as metaphors to address the notions of work, production and industrialization in relation to language, tools and the transformation of matter and energy. For Ortega, the exhibition also intends to discuss the idea of prosperity, the consequences of technical progress, the influence of technology, but also its counterpart, what has to do with organic, food with health.
One of the pieces that are part of the retrospective.MARCO MONTERREY

"What we have is an almost mythical interest in corn," explains the author in an interview via Zoom. “Corn has been seen throughout history as a key element, which even made man, according to the Popol Vuh, which says that the gods created man and woman, it is supposed, from corn. So, the approximations that I have are in many ways that mythology, but it also has a political part that is sovereignty, food, the culture of identity that the corn tortilla has in our country particularly, ”adds Ortega.
---

Ortega's relationship with art began at a very young age. He was a cartoonist and published cartoons in newspapers, but his dream was to become a muralist in a country that has given great names in muralism. Along with other young artists eager to revolutionize art in Mexico, he created spaces to exhibit his work and the Kurimanzutto gallery was born among those spaces, one of the most prestigious on the continent.

“I always liked muralism a lot, because it was a source of interest and complicity since I was little, because I liked to see the walls painted, I liked the story of this character as Orozco, a mythical figure. As a child I was always interested in going to the National Palace or the Fine Arts to see the murals, they were always a benchmark for a world of Mexican artists who had had an international impact. So, like, that image was always there and I started a lot with the idea that I wanted to paint murals,” says Ortega. The artist followed other paths, which have led him to be one of the most internationally valued Mexican creators and as a tribute to that success and recognition, MARCO offers this first major exhibition of 30 years of work, which includes recent and unpublished works. . , like 120 days, ceramics (2020-2023), made up of 120 clay sculptures in the shape of distorted Coca-Cola bottles, and Cadenilla (2014-2023), a textile made in collaboration with an artisan from Oaxaca. "It is a pleasure to work on this project, showing oneself has always been very exciting, because it is also the way of giving and receiving, it is really a dialogue and I am glad that here in Monterrey they have had this initiative, because until now no one had been encouraged to the museum and well, here they have taken a risk”, says Ortega.