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The most active art scenes in Mexico are currently located in Mexico City and Oaxaca where prominent galleries include EDS, Galeria de Arte Mexicano, Ethra,Garash, Kurimanzutto, Nina Menocal, OMR, Ginocchio,and Le Laboratoire. It should be noted though that these galleries do not exclusively represent Mexican talent but also Latin American and other international artists. One particular contemporary Mexican artist who kept appearing as I researched is Gabriel Orozco. Orozco is nationally and internationally recognized for his work which includes painting, photography, video, sculpture, and installations. He recently exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach where he was represented by Kurimanzutto. Orozco is also represented by Marian Goodman Gallery in New York. A Wall Street Journal article about the event mentions Orozco, "Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco, whose midcareer retrospective traveled to London's Tate Modern this year, will lead a talk at the fair. The Mexico City gallery Kurimanzutto will show a $350,000 "particle painting" by the artist, a 9/11 image of the World Trade Center rendered in tens of thousands of dots." The article also quotes co-owner of the gallery, Jose Kuri as saying, "The market is in a very good moment...Where there is quality, there are buyers." I believe his last remark refers to the contemporary art market in general and not specifically to Mexican art.
Another notable contemporary Mexican artist is Carlos Amorales whose work was also displayed at Art Basel Miami Beach this past December. Amorales, like many contemporary artists, uses various media, but he became well-known in particular for his works regarding "luchadores" or masked Mexican wrestlers. Rafael Lozano Hemmer, an installation artist, and graphic artist Francisco Toledo are also well-known contemporary Mexican artists who round out a handful of contemporary Mexican artists who that have gained international recognition in the art world in the last half century. While these artists may be recognized by the art world as evidenced in articles in the New York Times and other media outlets in recent years, they are mostly unknown to the general public. They have not had enough overwhelming success and visibility to make them household names like the muralists. There are several theories that I have about the reasons for this and I will explore them in the next section.
Issues and Possible Solutions
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