The
Identity and The Relationship Between Contemporary Mexican Art
and The Mainstream
Mexican art scene dependence on the mainstream gives as a result a much reduced
and limited image of what Mexican culture is. It has been seen in the last couple
of years a big boom of Mexican contemporary art. A lot of shows of Mexican contemporary
art have been displayed in museums all around the world, and Mexico has gotten
more than ever to participate in biennials and important shows. This fashion
and sudden interest in Mexican contemporary art is not based in its own values
as a cultural system but it is because, like Olivier Debroise (Mexican critic)
defines it, “a independent phenomenon of local practices, but that are
inserted in a series of radical modifications of the absorption, adaptation and
diffusion mechanism of art in the time of globalization, a reorganization of
the art markets that implies that for survival the center still now monopolithic
are forced to renew and expand their capability to absorb periferic cultures.”
The Mexican art scene at this time
is dependant on the mainstream mainly because of two reasons:
because of the fragility of its own institution for promoting
itself and because of the lack of collecting of contemporary
art on the inside. The Mexican organizations for the support
of the culture started to appear in the 50s, institutions like
InBA (National Fine Art Institute), INAH (National History Institute),
UNAM (Mexican State University) were all of them part of the
interest of the state in making the country to grow up culturally.
These institutions were mainly focused on creating and supporting
a serial of organizations for the promotion and diffusion of
the arts and the culture. At the beginning of the 80s the Mexican
government lost interest in what cultural education was giving
to the people and centered all the resources in what they believed
was the important things - “science and technology”.
Since then these cultural organizations with great problems of
bureaucracy began to fall apart.
Actually these organizations which
are supposed to be the main source of income for the arts spend
most of its budget in self-promoting themselves and as a result
of this, and is not a secret for the people who live in Mexico,
museums have no budget for the support of artist projects, or
for anything else (as Mexican critic Conrado Tostado states in
the article “Voltear A Ver”.) The second important
element which produces the Mexican dependence on the mainstream
is the lack of internal collecting of contemporary art. Mexico
has a low rate in the internal consumption of contemporary art
compared with other countries of Latin America like Colombia
and Brazil, and all the Mexican collectors buy famous American
artists or Mexican artists who have been inserted in to the mainstream
already. Even when Jumex (the biggest collector in Mexico) and
PAC (a private foundation for the support of the arts) spend
lots of money in support of the Mexican art scene, most of the
galleries and dealers focus on selling and distributing out of
the country. These two reasons mainly, the lack of an efficiency
in the state cultural system and the lack of internal collecting,
exposes the artistic Mexican creation to be interpreted by the
mainstream the way it likes better, and as a result a lot of
the artistic expressions get out of the country showing a reduced
and limited image of the Mexican culture, mostly focused on the
exotic, violent and primitive.
Maybe some of the experiences in
Mexico can be exotic, violent and primitive, but also there is
a lot of things more that have been avoided because they don’t
fit into the mainstream discourse about Mexican culture. If Mexico
reinforces its cultural internal structures, builds an effective
state system and promotes distribution and diffusion inside the
country, the art which goes out of the country will not need
the assistance of the mainstream. This way the vision for export
will have the chance to be what ever it chooses to be, and will
not have to be tied to the vision of the mainstream about Mexican
culture.
-- Douglas Rodrigo Rada Parejas,
2003
Douglas Rodrigo Rada Parejas was
recommended to apexart's fellowship program by
Carlos Arias, artist and professor, Universidad da las Americas,
Pueblo, Mexico.
To see more images of Mr. Rodrigo Rada Parejas' work, visit http://mx.photos.yahoo.com/realdrigo
|
