PAST CONVERSATION

‘Un Muro Rosa (A Pink Wall)’ with Joaquín Trujillo, Lorena Marrón, and José Villalobos

In conjunction with the exhibition Lamentable tierra / Sorrow Land, and on the occasion of the 2019 edition of Celebrate Mexico Now Festival, that will take place from October 7 to 13, curator Joaquín Trujillo will exhibit A Pink Wall, an intervention in BAXTER ST’s garden that consists in creating a pink wall in response to Donald Trump’s persistency on building a border wall—and wanting it to be painted black.

For A Pink Wall, Trujillo will blow-up a photograph to fit the wall’s shape and size revealing nothing but a fierce pink tone, the so-called “Rosa Mexicano”: that purplish pink that became popular with architect Luis Barragán’s modernist constructions, and speaks proudly about the nation’s true identity (even more than, perhaps, the three colors portrayed in Mexico’s flag). On the “backstage” of the wall, photographs taken by three Mexican artists: Lorena Marrón, Guillermo Serrano and Gustavo Villagrana, will be displayed. Performances by Mexican-American artist José Villalobos and by Trujillo & Marrón will also take place “behind the wall”, all of them tackling issues related with immigration, such as things that are “left behind” and the imminent construction of new identities when leaving one’s roots.

Celebrate Mexico Now Festival Reception, hosted by BAXTER ST will be held October 8, from 6–8pm. Performances by Mexican-American artist José Villalobos and by Trujillo & Marrón will take place in BAXTER ST’s garden on October 8, at 7pm

ABOUT JOSÉ VILLALOBOS

José Villalobos A performance of Mexican-American artist José Villalobos will take place. Jose Villalobos grew up on the US/Mexico border in El Paso, TX, and was raised in a traditional conservative family. His oeuvre reconciles the identity challenges in his life, caught in between traditional Mexican customs and American mores, as well as growing up with religious ideals that contrast with being gay. In his artistic practice, Villalobos explores traditionally “masculine” objects and softens the virility of these objects. Villalobos received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2016. He was awarded the Joan Mitchel Foundation Grant, the Artist Lab Fellowship Grant that same year for his work De La Misma Piel at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. Villalobos has exhibited and performed at Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX; El Paso Museum of Art, TX; El Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; and Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, San Antonio, TX.

ABOUT GUILLERMO SERRANO

Guillermo Serrano is a photographer and archivist. Graduated the Seminar of Contemporary Photography of the Center of the Image and the Center of the Arts of San Agustín in Oaxaca. He has exhibited in cities in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Spain, Hungary and the United States. Honorable Mention at the National Biennial of Monterrey Artemergente. Honorable Mention in the First Latin American Photography Prize. Nominated for the International Photography Festival Paraty Em Foco. Finalist in the Second Contest of Contemporary Photography of Mexico. Selected in the XIV Photography Biennial of the Image Center. Selected for the Joop Swart Masterclass of the World Press Photo by the region of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Fellow of Young Creators of the National Fund for Culture and the Arts twice. Winner of the Tlaxcala Visual Arts Award. His work is in public and private collections, and has been published in magazines and books specializing in contemporary photography. He also writes essays on photography and contemporary image. Develop curatorial projects in photographic archives. He is founder of the Laboratory of Art and Photography, an educational platform that develops artistic and cultural projects. He has been a jury of various art competitions. He regularly participates as a speaker in specialized photography centers.

ABOUT LORENA MARRÓN

Lorena Marrón (b. 1981, Acapulco, Mexico) has published in several magazines, such as Slate, Letras Libres, La Tempestad, Día Siete, Código, Galleta China, Chilango, Cuaderno Salmón, and Literal; and the newspapers Reforma and El Universal. She was awarded the “Young Creators” FONCA Grant in photography (2009), the Connor Award in Art History (2013) and the Research Grant from The City College of New York (2013). She was also a Stanford Research Fellow (Summer 2014), and The Jumex Foundation fellow (2013-2014). Her MA thesis is titled Art as Resistance: Contemporary Mexican Art in the Context of Mexico’s Drug War.

ABOUT GUSTAVO VILLAGRANA

Gustavo Villagrana (b. Mexico City, 1981). Villagrana grew up in Zacatecas, where he currently lives works and runs his studio from. He studied Design at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí (UASLP) and Philosophy and History of Ideas at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas (UAZ). Co-founder of Tercerojo Estudio (2008), he has developed curatorial and publishing projects. He has exhibited in spaces such as the Pedro Coronel Museum, the Francisco Goitia Museum, and Augeo Art Space.

ABOUT JOAQUÍN TRUJILLO

Joaquín Trujillo (Los Angeles, California, 1976. Raised in Zacatecas, Mexico. Lives between Brooklyn, NY and Zacatecas). Artist, curator, editor and the youngest of eleven siblings, Joaquín Trujillo was raised in a small town on the outskirts of Zacatecas, México. His determination manifested itself at the early age of 12 when he left his home for Los Angeles. There he lived with his brothers in a one-bedroom apartment. He remembers his first trip home after months of living in LA. Riding in the back of the pickup on the dirt road to his parent’s ranch, the landscape was clouded by dust being kicked up from the truck’s oversized wheels. As they neared the front porch, his father’s face appeared through the dissipating sediment. He was older. Traveling back and forth from LA to Mexico became Joaquin’s way of life –a way of nomadic stability. With one bag still packed, he now calls Brooklyn home. These consistent breaks for time and space are sewn into the fabrics of his work and influences. While many artists step behind the lens to capture a moment, Joaquin uses the camera to reconstruct the past –to fill in the gaps. He imports a body of work and a worldview inflected with a freshness of vision and technique. His potent yet subtle approach to color and texture emulates a structured slippage of heritage. Building upon the dichotomy of his Mexican heritage and American education, he weaves together an uncanny modality of childhood innocence across culture, place and time. His work is part od number collection to name a few Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX / SFMoMA, San Francisco, CA / The William Benton Museum of Art, Storrs, CT

This exhibition is presented in partnership with:

SOMA is a non-profit organization conceived to nurture discussion and exchange in the field of contemporary art and education in Mexico City. They build platforms to collectively investigate what art can become and how it can function in different contexts. More information can be found at www.somamexico.org. 

The Celebrate Mexico Now Festival showcases more than 300 artists in 97 venues across New York City, this year celebrating its 16^th year. Celebrate Mexico Now annually invites audiences to celebrate the creativity, heritage, and heart that contemporary Mexican artists bring to every arts field. The Festival’s expansive repertoire disrupts the often narrow definitions of Mexican culture by exploring the way contemporary artists are reflecting, reshaping and revisioning Mexican identity in the ever-changing global context. More information can be found at www.mexiconowfestival.org.