Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis brimming with contradictions, has been a profound source of inspiration and challenge throughout my artistic career. When I first arrived, my art was primarily defined by black and white mediums. However, Mexico City, with its vibrant energy and complex narrative, pushed me to explore new avenues of expression. Watercolor, a medium I had previously used for figurative art, became a natural progression for expanding my artistic horizons, especially as I aimed to reach an international audience a decade ago.
Watercolor possesses a unique quality. With just a few strokes, it can capture the essence of an image, transforming it into something visually captivating. In my studio, daily practice is crucial. It’s a space for evolution, for discovering new techniques, and for uncovering the hidden narratives within reality. Graphite and watercolor became my chosen vehicles, allowing me to translate my internal thoughts and experiences into art that is both festive and deeply personal.
My exploration of watercolor was ignited by encountering Dalí’s Divine Comedy series during a visit to Barcelona. The sheer scope of color, narrative depth, and composition within that series was deeply impactful. The subtle yet powerful neutral tones resonated with me. However, the ephemeral nature of watercolor, its tendency to fade over time, made me question its suitability for representing the long and often violent journey Mexico had been experiencing.
Monotyping offered a different path. Closer to painting, this technique allowed for a more immediate and tactile approach. Drawing directly onto a plate evokes the qualities of lithography, enabling me to work with smudges, lines, and tones in a visually coded language achieved through pressure on paper using an etching press. I embraced black and white again, utilizing its dramatic potential to represent powerful imagery.
This monotype series began in January 2018, a period of uncertainty. The aftermath of the 2017 earthquake had made my workshop’s future precarious, and I considered selling it. Using leftover paper and stored ink, I began experimenting. I quickly realized the untapped potential of monotype, often confined to formal graphic languages and orthodox printing techniques. It became a vital divergence, and the initial sales from this series were instrumental in saving my workshop.
This collection of monotypes, which culminated in a large-scale installation of 100 works (90 x 60 cm) at the MUSEO CUATRO CAMINOS in March 2019, stands as another chapter in my artistic journey. It’s the product of months of intense exploration. The turbulent political climate of the preceding year had left a profound mark. These past years, compounded by the earthquake, pushed many artists, myself included, into a period of studio seclusion, even as we continued to work.
Paper, in its simplicity, remains the most accessible medium for artistic expression. Ink and the blank surface of acid-free or plain paper are all that’s needed to depict an entire universe, economically. Following the earthquake, art sales declined sharply. Investing in art was simply not a priority as the nation focused on rebuilding and providing aid to address the disaster’s immense costs. The subsequent months were a stark reminder of the realities we faced. Yet, our workshops had to persevere. Rent, utilities, and the cost of essential supplies like coffee, avocados, and art materials continued to rise.
Mexico City is a complex and multifaceted territory. Beauty bursts forth from every corner, making it challenging to focus on a single aspect or portray it without resorting to clichés or superficial anecdotes. My time here has been a profoundly cerebral phase within an ongoing spiritual transformation. For five years, I’ve lived in the city center. My first year, 2014, was spent in a room at the Isabel Hotel, a short walk from the Zócalo. Later, I rented an old office on República de Uruguay Street, where I dedicated a year to drawing and painting. This space eventually evolved into my print workshop.
Over these past four years, my experiences and interactions have earned me a certain right to depict and discuss this city, to weave my personal narrative into the vast tapestry of Mexico City and its people. Everyday life here unfolds as a universe of wonders to me.
It’s no surprise that the world is captivated by Mexico City. Recently, my friend Jay Howell (Sanjay and Craig) visited and expressed his astonishment, noting that the city’s energy reminded him of San Francisco in the 90s—a pivotal era for graffiti, hip hop, music, and early 2000s aesthetics. Many others who experienced 1980s New York have echoed this sentiment. Forty years later, Mexico City’s emergence as an art mecca feels natural. In the downtown area, between Revillagigedo and Luis Moya streets, artists can be seen constantly moving, canvases in hand, often scavenging for materials at night amidst the urban landscape. Each is engaged in a personal, experimental journey, laying the foundations for a new era coinciding with the change in national administration in 2018.
It’s been a long and winding road, particularly for creators like myself who operate outside of established institutions and private sectors. These sectors have been significantly influenced by the “mirreynato” (a term for privileged young people), impacting all facets of the art world. For years, this situation has felt uncontrolled, where talent is almost seen as a disadvantage in spaces meant for showcasing art. Instead, a more design-oriented, commercially appealing style has been relentlessly promoted, prioritizing superficial exploration over skill and in-depth artistic inquiry. This trend posed a threat to the narratives favored by galleries, which often preferred simplistic and immediately gratifying works. Any opposition was suppressed through exclusion from these spaces, marginalizing a wealth of images produced in recent years. The current status quo is supported by the capital of this “mirreynato,” fostering a safe, almost harmless aesthetic discourse, more concerned with setting fashion trends and representing a sanitized rebellion of the upper middle class, which has sought to impose its aesthetic on the city. A unifying, brand-sponsored discourse now defines this “rebellion” of the wealthy, through which capital has infiltrated every aspect of art. Yet, despite art becoming a highly marketable commodity, it retains an intangible value, always exceeding any attempt at quantification.
However, the underlying drive within artist workshops to forge a future remains constant. Drawings, once again, show us the way forward. Ideas must first be tested on paper before they can be fully realized. The blueprints of a reality in progress are found on the paper surfaces that daily grace the tables of artists living in this city built on volcanic rock.
—Rene Almanza, México City, Estudio del Balderas, January 15, 2019
