A Mexican Artist Is Ready to Be Discovered, Again
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Loading... - Mesi Osama
- 06 Jul 2022
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At 52 years old and with nearly three decades of exhibitions behind him, Cisco Jiménez is far from new to art making or the gallery scene, and in Mexico, where he lives, he is something of a living legend, breaking into the fine art world during the graffiti movement in the 1990s and sustaining a career ever since.
Yet, here he is, set to show this month at Art Basel Hong Kong in the Discoveries section, an area of the fair where galleries pitch the up-and-comers they hope will break through with collectors.
It is a funny thing, Mr. Jiménez acknowledged, and one of the quirks of the international art business, which has handed him both highs and lows. His exhibitor, Mexico City’s MAIA Contemporary, understands that his fame does not fully extend to the Asian markets. So the setup introduces him to a new audience, but with the urgency of being one of the next big things it should know about.
“I will be presented as an eternally emerging artist,” he joked, though making clear that the staging makes some sense. “It’s a totally new experience for my work. I will have to confront a new public and from a distant context in all the senses.”
Geographically, that distance extends all the way from Art Basel to Cuernavaca, in the state of Morelos, where the artist has long maintained a studio. But there is a cultural separation as well because his work is so specific to Mexico and full of references that define contemporary art here: Latin American politics and current events, drug violence, the pervasive influence of U.S.-made pop culture, and how so much of what happens today can be connected to the colonial upheaval that began five centuries ago. Read More...
