12 Must-See Shows during Mexico City Art Week
Installation view of Nilufar at Casa Pedro Ramírez Vàzquez. Photo by Alejandro Ramirez Orozco. Courtesy of Nilufar Gallery.
Installation view of MASA + Luhring Augustine. Courtesy of MASA Galeria.
The art world officially loves Mexico City. A growing hub for contemporary art, both for Latin American audiences and beyond, the city is celebrating the 20th edition of Zona Maco this year. This milestone for Latin America’s largest art fair cements Mexico City’s reputation as an art scene to watch.
Zona Maco will feature 212 exhibitors from 25 countries at the Centro Citibanamex and takes center stage in the larger programming around Mexico City Art Week, which also hosts the Feria Material Art Fair, Salón Acme, and Unique Design X Mexico City.
Of course, galleries across this energetic metropolis are also hosting many of their standout shows of the year. These 12 must-see shows during Mexico City Art Week showcase the thriving, ultra-buzzy art scene in Mexico City.
Eduardo Sarabia, installation view of “Four Minutes of Darkness” at OMR, 2024. © Photos by Ramiro Chaves. Courtesy of the artist and OMR, Mexico City.
Eduardo Sarabia takes inspiration from the upcoming solar eclipse with his show “Four Minutes of Darkness” at OMR, marking his first solo there since the gallery began representing him in March 2023. The exhibition, which ends just before the total solar eclipse this April, is the third in a trilogy of shows dedicated to the transformative power of this natural phenomenon.
Over 30 new works, including sculptures, ceramics, paintings, and tapestry, reference the eclipse, often inspired by personal experience. One such piece is the centerpiece of the show, a reflection of Sarabia’s Mexican American heritage, which features a chapel-inspired structure with a stained-glass ceiling that casts a spectrum of light over a central fountain.
Additionally, Four minutes of darkness (2023), a handmade stained-glass work depicting the solar eclipse, centers the spiritual importance of the eclipse across the entire exhibition. Meanwhile, works like Eclipse Dreaming (2023), a wool tapestry portraying various symbols and fish beneath the solar eclipse, expound on the dreamlike wonder associated with the celestial event.
As the exhibition at OMR concludes on March 26th, it will move to the Museo de Arte de Mazatlán in Sinaloa, Mexico, to coincide with the total solar eclipse across the region on April 8th.
Mexican artist Omar Castillo Alfaro first studied chemical metallurgical engineering at the Universidad Autónoma Nacional de México and this scientific background is still integrated into his surreal sculptures today. In his first solo exhibition in Mexico City, “Naab Taanaj,” at guadalajara90210, Alfaro reinterprets symbols from Mesoamerican history through a contemporary lens and reimagines these forms with steel, black obsidian, and other metals—a return to his metallurgical background.
Giving its title to the exhibition is the sculpture Naab Taanaj (2024), a fantastical tree made from metal rods and paraffin rooted in a circle of dirt. This piece, along with the other metal flora works, symbolizes the connection between the land and water, a theme represented in Mayan culture through the water lily, or naab. Alfaro’s work reimagines these traditional motifs, highlighting the traditional mythological narratives that were later overshadowed by colonial history. Through this show, Alfaro intends to cultivate “a dialogue in history as a new form of archeology of the future,” he wrote in the exhibition text.
Daniel Lezama’s paintings are creative, fantastical, and rich in narrative, often showcasing provocative scenes that speak to the turbulent political history of Mexico, where he is from. Galería Hilario Galguera’s “Velo y Alquimia: Early Works by Daniel Lezama” presents works from the very beginning of his career: gesturally captured nude bodies writhing in surrealistic space that evoke mythological and biblical stories. Also on view is his triptych Conductores (2016), depicting three mythological landscapes with god-like figures from his “Dispositivos” series (2012–16), emphasizing the links between this recent work and the foundational characteristics seen in his first paintings from the mid-1990s.
Over the years, Lezama has repeatedly reinvented his practice, oscillating between figurative, landscape, and allegorical themes. More recently, he has focused on creating more provocative paintings that make a clear statement. Though still challenging to the viewer, his early work instead relied on subtler actions and muted implications painted with darker tones. For instance, his 1997 painting Siglo de las Luces I depicts two bodies moving beneath a red curtain—one with the top half of their body out and the other with only their legs exposed. Throughout, this series exemplifies Lezama’s early ability to grab the viewer’s attention in his canvases based on heady philosophical themes.
This joint exhibition presents a selection of two galleries’ rosters: eight visual artists represented by Luhring Augustine and six designers represented by MASA Galería. This collaborative venture will be hosted in MASA’s Mexico City gallery, a 19th-century country home known as the site of infamous historical, eclectic dinner parties of artists and intellectuals in the mid-20th century.
Some highlights are the uncanny geometric sculptures of Richard Rezac—a 72-year-old abstract sculptor based in Chicago—such as Untitled (19-06) (2019), which comprises a bumpy bronze on a mint-green wooden pedestal, a playful exploration of space and form that sets the tone of the entire presentation. Meanwhile, sought-after Pakistani artist Salman Toor’s figurative paintings of queer intimacy between people of color offer narrative depth, as seen in his new painting The Cuddlers (2024), which illustrates two adult figures close together holding a child.
Emil Sands’s “Encounters” is a series of nine paintings that explore desire, longing, and fantasy. In Sands’s narrative, traditional ideas of masculinity are reimagined, presenting male figures that embody vulnerability and introspection. Each scene, showing a man in repose set against a dreamlike landscape, invites the viewer into a moment of gentle reflection.
Reflective waters and illuminated trees, often in purples with orange or green highlights, serve as crucial elements to Sands’s narratives. Nico and his friend as the light changes on their day (2023) depicts two young men by a body of water and illuminated by a soft light, capturing a tender yet fleeting moment between companions.
Mexican artist Yoab Vera’s textured landscape paintings glow with bright shades of pink, red, and orange, finished with final touches of concrete on canvas. Presented by Saenger Galería, “Scent of Time: Horizontes temporales” is set within the walls of Casa Gilardi—a space designed by Mexican architect Luis Barragán between 1976 and 1978. For the exhibition, Vera draws inspiration from the show’s venue as well as from Georg Simmel’s philosophy that landscapes in art are “the vital impulse” that animates our gaze.
Vera employs oil, spray paint, and exposed cement to craft his landscapes. Works such as Horizontes Temporales: Reloj (Bolero) and Horizontes Temporales: Sólamente Una Vez (Bolero) (both 2024) capture the soft hues of the sun over an ocean, where the concrete creates a multilayered illustration. These works, alive with color, use sharp contrast to portray fantastical views of the distant horizon, evoking a longing for the future.
Contemporary painter Marcos Castro chooses destruction as a guiding force in his solo exhibition “Quemando la Casa” (“Burning Down the House”). For the Mexican artist, his creepy canvases act as windows to a world where nature overtakes human infrastructure, and plants and animals are able to take over an abandoned civilization.
An untitled landscape painting of a beach awash with sunrise hues, for instance, acts as a portal to a world without human interaction. Here, Castro invites viewers to ponder their role in nature’s cycles, presenting a compelling narrative on the world’s transformation, currently even more urgent due to climate change. Drawing on Carl Jung’s idea that the house symbolizes the psyche, Castro’s exhibition implies the destruction of the individual in the context of a possible apocalyptic future natural world to spark conversation about our tumultuous relationship with the environment.
There has been a wealth of recent exhibitions recontextualizing the history of Surrealism; most notably, “Surrealism Beyond Borders” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2021. This show at RGR Art also celebrates a century of Surrealism—officially consecrated in Paris in 1924 with the publication of the Manifesto of Surrealism by André Breton. Curators Gabriela Rangel and Verónica Rossi pay homage to the playful spirit and diverse legacy of the movement and its enduring relevance in the age of artificial intelligence through artifacts, paintings, sculptures, drawings, documents, and photographs.
Featuring 23 artists, “Playing with closed eyes” includes work from several Surrealist heavyweights, such as Mexican painter Leonora Carrington, whose 2005 painting White People, included in the show, illustrates three mystical figures gathered together in a swamplike landscape. The exhibition will feature other pivotal figures associated with Latin American Surrealism, such as Remedios Varo and Kati Horna.
Contemporary artists, such as Mexico-born Magali Lara and New York–based multidisciplinary artist Karina Aguilera Skvirsky, will present works made in 2024.
Installation view of Gabriel Orozco, kurimanzutto, Mexico City, 2024. Photo by Gerardo Landa / Eduardo López (GLR Estudio), 2024. Courtesy of kurimanzutto.
During the pandemic, titan of Mexico’s conceptual art scene Gabriel Orozco recorded the imprints and sketches of leaves in several palm-sized notebooks while living in Tokyo. These “Diario de Plantas” drawings are intimate records of leaves encountered by the artist. Made with tempera, ink, graphite, and gouache, these works document an ongoing interest in how we changed around and with our natural environment and place during the pandemic period.
This new series is shown among more historical series as part of “Circular Identity,” where Orozco trains this focus on the relationship between artmaking and place. For example, Orozoco’s desire to work with limestone brought him to Bali in 2017, where the rock has traditionally been used for temples for centuries. Once there, he started the “Dés” (“dice” in French) series of circle-engraved cuboids carved from local stones, although for this show, the stones—red volcanic tezontle and white marble— were sourced from Mexico.
Additionally, Orozco will debut paintings inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man (ca. 1490). Untitled (2024), for instance, overlays the face of the “Vitruvian man” with an image of Coatlicue, the Aztec goddess of life and death.
Late Brazilian artist Eleonore Koch was overlooked during her lifetime, and many of her works have only recently gone on show again: mostly flattened minimal tempera landscapes and still lifes. Born in Berlin, she later settled in São Paulo, where she developed a distinctive style that focuses a composition on a single element, surrounded by planes of vibrant color palettes. These works include elements that hint at her personal history and the broader cultural influences she absorbed throughout her life, from her early years in Europe to her extensive career in Brazil: a simple palm tree, for instance; a Greek statue; or an easel set before an open lake.
“Casi Concreto” offers a comprehensive account of the late artist’s practice and career, encompassing drawings, paintings, and preparatory studies for later works. Koch’s contributions to Brazilian art, particularly in a period dominated by Geometric Abstraction and Concrete Art, stand out for her commitment to the figure and its background. This context is hinted at by the show’s title, meaning “Nearly Concrete,” noting the influence of her contemporaries even as she stayed committed to her own figurative-leaning style.
Known for her restrained and celestially inspired paintings, Los Angeles–based Theodora Allen explores growth and transformation using a subdued palette of Delft blue, black, and white in her exhibition “Germ,” presented by New York tastemaking gallery Kasmin at Casa Siza in Mexico City. This exhibition studies the beauty of beginnings—focusing on motifs like seedlings, armor, and celestial patterns as symbols of growth.
Allen’s meticulous process involves layering thin veils of oil paint, adding and erasing to achieve these evocative yet subtle juxtapositions, where the “germ” of an idea is constantly undergoing metamorphosis at the core of her paintings. She employs a nuanced tonal variation to softly render objects, giving them volume and depth, as shown by Weed (2023), a light depiction of a plant emerging from a crack in the ground.
Installation view of Nilufar at Casa Pedro Ramírez Vàzquez. Photo by Alejandro Ramirez Orozco. Courtesy of Nilufar Gallery.
Nilufar Gallery, in partnership with Mexican retailer Studio 84 and rug company cc-tapis, is hosting a modern design showcase at Casa Pedro Ramírez Vàzquez with “Open Edition,” the gallery’s own range of design pieces first presented in 2023. For this edition, the gallerist intends to juxtapose contemporary designs with the architectural legacy of the late Mexican architect Pedro Ramírez Vàzquez. The exhibition will showcase limited or one-off pieces of furniture curated by gallery founder Nina Yashar within the modernist residence.
“Open Edition” will present Tenet and Mensa tables by Filippo Carandini and Levitation Alchemia vases by Sophie Dries, alongside innovative modular seating designed by david/nicolas. These contemporary pieces are paired against the home’s original elements, such as the volcanic stone finishes and a central courtyard, to inspire conversation between designers and their styles.
“Design at its core is a dialogue—about society, the convergence of eras, routines, and aspirations,” Yashar said in a press statement. “Moreover, it is a conversation that must unfold among its creators.”
