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Pararrayos: 12 Contemporary Mexican Painters in Berlin

An Exhibition at the Mexican Embassy in Berlin.

August 17th, 2015
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"Pararrayos" (meaning lightning rod in Spanish) is a project that brings together the work of twelve contemporary painters established in Mexico, and aims to strengthen the promotion of Mexican art abroad, in this case, in Germany. This exhibition, which falls under the category of cultural activities in the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be put on show at the Embassy of Mexico in Germany from August 6th to September 30th.

The artwork focuses on intentionally shattered language, aiming to depict a disrupted, contemporary world, a world that also specifically highlights the Mexican reality. There is also an obvious interest in figuration, but not a literal figuration.

This exhibition, curated by Christian Barragan, is made up of the following artists: Javier Areán, Taka Fernández, Agustín González, Jacqueline Lozano, Javier Peláez, Eric Perez, Patrick Patterson, Omar Rodríguez-Graham, Paul Torn, Veronica Bape, Miguel Angel Cordera and Omar Barquet. All of them have had a successful career, and are a solid group representing the new generation of Mexican contemporary painters. The concept of creativity in the current Mexican painting scene has taken a radical turn, even in the relatively recent past. Openness to global trends, from a particular idiosyncrasy and originality, is a defining feature of the work of the participants.

The 12 Mexicans, all between 30 and 50 years old and who mostly come from Mexico City, present different pieces of artwork that range from abstraction, representation of nature or body, still life, to geometric painting, although they all have something in common: “The main common denominator is an interest in the exploration of painting as a medium and thought process,” said Peláez and Patterson.

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References and Links

News from Berlin
Clara Santos, Berlin Global
Picture 3 by Notimex