Una Excursión Mexicana – A Mexican excursion

Porno comics, cellotape and human hair are some of the raw materials; social conflicts and the painful history of a passionate country, the most important inspiration for the new HangART-7 exhibition about contemporary art from Mexico.

A picture consisting of dark, fine lines, placed with a steady hand, and powerful in its effect: Many of Gabriel de la Mora’s pieces of art look like pencil drawings. It’s not until you get closer that you realize that the thin pencil lines are actually pieces of human hair, which de la Mora has meticulously placed and arranged. “Our ‘Excursión’ to Mexico shows approaches that are atypical and are interesting exactly for this reason,” comments Lioba Reddeker, curator and program head of the new HangART-7 exhibition.

Artistic altercation with the homeland

The works of de la Mora and six other Mexican artists will be shown until August 28 in the exhibition “Una Excursión Mexicana – Contemporary Art from Mexico” at Hangar-7, Salzburg. As different as their techniques, their approaches and the use of raw materials are, the more similar the subject matter which the chosen artists concern themselves with: social conflicts and environmental problems as well as the historical memories about their Aztec roots and Spanish oppression.

New rules for ancient traditions

The result is partly subtle, partly dramatic; sometimes unsettling and then again, seemingly naive – like when Eugenia Martínez surrounds her protagonists with social critical texts that are reminiscent of halos. Or when Alma Sandoval’s abstract pictures, when inspected more closely, prove to be a conglomerate of human body pieces, which she took from porno comics. “It’s surprising and astonishing to see what role tradition plays for the young artists in Mexico, the traditions that they put a lot of energy into trying to detach themselves from,” says Lioba Reddeker. “It is distinctly noticeable that the fine arts have played an important role in this country for a long time, but that the new generation tries to enforce their own rules – and this they do with very fascinating results.”

Seventh part of an artistic world journey

“A Mexican Excursion” is the seventh HangART-7 exhibition that has the contemporary art of a city or country as its theme. Since 2005, works by artists from Austria, China, Spain, New York, Russia and South Africa have been shown. The new exhibition in Hangar-7 (Salzburg Airport 1, Wilhelm Spazier-Straße 7a, 5020 Salzburg, Austria) runs from July 8 until August 28, daily from 9 am to 10 pm. Entry is free.