Gallery Weekend Mexico: The Highlights

When director Rafeal Yturbe was asked to decide between Rufino Tamayo and Gunther Gerzso artwork for a wedding gift from his boss, he chose Gerzso. Yturbe considers the painter and filmmaker one of the most underrated Mexican artists of the 20th century, destined for eventual recognition among famed contemporaries like Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and of course Tamayo.

With this in mind, Galería de Arte Mexicano enlisted 12 contemporary artists from across the globe for Dialogues with Gerzso. The exhibition intersperses the mid-century abstract paintings of Gerzso with new pieces inspired by his works, including an seven-foot-high black metal sculpture by Carlos García-Noriega that brings Gerzso’s cubist paintings into three dimensions. Through December 15; galeriadeartemexicano.com.

Kurimanzutto is considered one of the most influential spaces for contemporary art in the city, if not the world. For this show, whose title takes from a quote by James Baldwin, the gallery presented works by six of the world’s most celebrated artists of African descent—including Kara Walker, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, and Mark Bradford—that use abstract art to “to destabilize black representation and systems of control.”

Bradford’s massive painted bouys hang amid the striking oil-paint portraits by Yiadom-Boakye and iconic silhouette pieces by Walker. Through December 16; kurimanzutto.com.

Columbian-American artist Gala Porras-Kim takes the academic approach with her solo show at Labor Gallery, which examines LACMA’s Proctor-Stafford Collection of ancient ceramic burial figurines and the lack of historical knowledge behind them.

For a series of graphite on paper, which maxes out in size at an impressive 11-by-7 feet, Porras-Kim uses meticulous realism to draw pieces from the collection—found along Mexico’s Pacific coast and dating back 2,500 years—posed on living room mantels. It’s a reference to where the figurines had long been presented before people realized their provenance. Labor Gallery is one-third of the show with simultaneous exhibitions currently at LA’s Commonwealth and Council Gallery as well as LACMA. Through January 6, 2018; labor.org.mx.

French artist Théo Mercier, who’s collaborated with Bjork on set designs and has pieces in the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, recently completed a two-month residency at Marso Gallery for his first solo show in Mexico City.

Some of the 34-year-old's stunning pieces include enormous framed windowpanes with prints of ancient urns and marble busts featuring locally salvaged stone and tile fragments playfully overlaid on top. He also created cairn-like sculptures where he stacked faux artifacts he acquired at local flea markets atop various marbles, bricks, and even a metal can. The pieces had toppled during the September earthquake, so he rebuilt them with a sturdy metal rod piercing up the center to hold them in place. Through January 19; marso.com.mx.

Galería Hilario Galguera had to remove some of their walls to bring in a number of the larger sculptures by Belgian artist Peter Buggenhout, which are collectively called The Blind Leading The Blind. The name evokes the lack of reference points when seeing these mangled pieces of corrugated metal, crumpled aluminum, and shredded foam—among other materials such as pigs blood and human hair—all smashed together and then completely caked in household dust. The result is dark, brooding and ominous, leading one to ask, “What is it?”—hence the name. Through December 15; galeriahilariogalguera.com.