A LOOK AT MEXICAN ART OF THE '90S FROM THE JUMEX COLLECTION AT CASA DE MÉXICO
The Casa de México Foundation in Spain is hosting, through the second week of June, a must-see exhibition from the Jumex Collection—one of the most significant contemporary art collections in Latin America. Titled Éramos felices y no lo sabíamos (We Were Happy and Didn't Know It), the exhibition revisits the vibrant artistic scene of 1990s Mexico, offering a re-reading of one of the most dynamic periods in the country’s contemporary art history.
The exhibition serves as a narrative thread through those years, showcasing the work of twenty-eight Mexican artists—or artists residing in Mexico—through sixty-five pieces encompassing a wide range of media, with a strong emphasis on video art, installation, photography, and sculpture. In her curatorial presentation, Ixel Rion Lora aims to capture the raw energy and creative freedom of that decade while underscoring the lasting impact these works had on urban communities across Mexico.
To do so, Éramos felices y no lo sabíamos explores the development of contemporary Mexican art through five thematic axes: the city, space, social context, identity, and materiality. These conceptual pillars frame the selection and interpretation of the works. While the curatorial structure reinforces the significance of this moment in time, the roster of artists featured further underscores the period’s importance in shaping what would soon become the near future of Mexican art.
Names such as Abraham Cruzvillegas, Silvia Gruner, Jorge Méndez Blake, José Dávila, Francis Alÿs, Carlos Amorales, and Gabriel Orozco, among others, were pivotal in bringing visibility to and internationalizing a form of art increasingly shaped by external influences. The influx of new materials and a shifting social landscape both enabled and demanded ambitious creative responses.
This tribute to an essential period of artistic effervescence is completed by artists such as Daniel Guzmán, Daniela Rossell, Eduardo Abaroa, Gabriel Kuri, Gonzalo Lebrija, Iñaki Bonillas, Jonathan Hernández, Laureana Toledo, Damián Ortega, Fernando Ortega, Luis Miguel Suro, Miguel Calderón, Minerva Cuevas, Pablo Vargas Lugo, Sofía Táboas, Stefan Brüggemann, Melanie Smith, Rubén Ortiz Torres, Dr. Lakra, Santiago Sierra, and Thomas Glassford, among others.
Éramos felices y no lo sabíamos runs through June 8 at Fundación Casa de México en España, located at Alberto Aguilera 20, Madrid.
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