Zona Maco: México Arte Contemporáneo
By Margaret Failoni

In spite of economic misgivings, Mexico City’s Zona Maco, the fifth international art fair, took off with the usual fanfare. Not even the swine flu epidemic, which closed down much of the city’s public spaces, stopped the fair from continuing to its very last day, which was Sunday, April 26.

Collectors and art lovers in general crowded in on Sunday afternoon, striking last-minute deals and bargain hunting.

Many new venues made this year more exciting, with several acquisition awards by FORT & AXA (the Fundación Olga & Ruffino Tamayo and AXA Seguros, a European insurance company branching out to Mexico), and awards by Tequila Centenario (Casa Cuervo), Perrier and Chilango magazine.

The fair’s many sponsors included Casa Cuervo’s Tequila Centenario, Pepe Jeans of London, Chilango magazine, Perrier, Xbox 360, Iusacell, Nespresso, Volaris, Dos Equis beer, Distrito Capital, VHR, GPO Vallas, Burson-Marsteller and Audi.

The week began with events on Tuesday, April 21, the day before the fair opened. VIP invitations were sent out to collectors, dealers, critics and curators throughout the world, and they came. Special events were planned for all VIP card holders. 

Tuesday was a guided tour to the Blaisten Collection of Modern Mexican Art 1900–1960. In the same space, a cocktail opening was held for the photo exhibition of works by New York photographer Spencer Tunick.

Four mini-shows were in Torolab, Pablo Vargas Lugo, Lozano-Hemmer and OMR Gallery, a cocktail opening with works by Melanie Smith. The PIB/Central hosted a cocktail opening for Christan Albrecht, Diego Alvarez and more. An evening celebration was organized by the Galeria OMR, the Enrique Guerrero Gallery and the KBG Gallery at the Covadonga, an artist’s hangout bar/restaurant which served tortas, beer and tequila.

Wednesday afternoon was the official opening of the fair in the Centro Banamex, Hall D. The many venues included the opening of La Sala de Arte Pública in the Colonia Polanco with Siqueiros’ works and a presentation at Borderland, the Digital Art Laboratory. Eugenio López, the Jumex boy wonder/world class collector, hosted a VIP private showing at the Jumex Museum on the outskirts of the city with a special supper afterwards. 

Thursday, Chilango magazine and the Habita Hotel arranged to meet and greet emerging artists such as Ruben Gutiérrez and his work “Banality by Reputation,” curated by Ariadna Ramonetti. The work consisted of installation drawings and placing a huge neon sign on top of the hotel, temporarily naming it Hotel Paraiso. American artist James Brown opened his show at the Galeria Hilario Galguera and the Trolebús Gallery presented Artemio, substituting neon lights on a building to create on a large scale the exterior of a Japanese trolley-bus. At Condesa DF art space, a cocktail opening presented “Parking Lotus,” a three-channel video installation by Joshua Okon. The Casa Cultural Rosetta featured the 2009 winter-fall collections from several of Mexico’s foremost designers. El Respendor arranged a contemporary art showing at Salon Los Angeles, one of the oldest traditional dance halls in the city. SUMA 09 held a special fundraiser dinner organized by the Fundación Olga & Rufino Tamayo on the Tamayo Museum grounds. 

Artists Leonardo Callejas and Victor León Pérez organized Insiders/Slide A in a specially chosen space in the heart of the historic center. 

Friday, Tequila Centenario bestowed its acquisitions award at the fair. Border Gallery opened “Time Life/Dhear!” with a large selection of graffiti paintings. Celeste magazine held an exhibition and party at the El Eco Experimental Museum featuring “Two Black Monoliths” by Aldo Chaparro. Vice magazine and Casino Metropolitano presented “Neurofeedback,” a Daniel Habif exhibition. At 10pm, 1-20 and Proyectos Monclave offered a party in Salón Alemán.

Saturday, the cutting-edge gallery Kurimanzutto offered a cocktail opening of works by their mega-star, Gabriel Orozco. At the Exhibition of Petra, Francois Bucher show dealt with drugs and trafficking.

Sunday brought a closing party at the Hotel Habita and an invitation to dance all night at Leonore’s in Colonia Condesa. No one could possibly attend half of these venues plus the fair itself.

The fair space was packed and although I recognized many collectors from Europe, Mexico City and Monterrey, the general news was modest sales. The fair had been opened for private viewings for VIP’s starting at 1pm on |Wednesday, and that same evening Perrier announced its acquisition award.

At the fair’s entrance, the stand for Fahrenheit magazine was staffed by a French curator and the renowned artist Válerie Mréjen was selected to do the art. Many galleries from Europe and South America as well as a few from the US participated alongside the Mexican galleries. The overall level was good, though not really outstanding, with the usual “better” galleries leading the show of quality.

San Miguel’s Kunsthaus Gallery had a larger space this year and showed some very good photo art with works by Daniela Edburg and Ivan Puig. Ana Quiroz exhibited her usual brilliant conceptual pieces and Rocio Maldonado was present with a few small oils.

The Barò-Cruz Gallery from Brazil displayed a great installation by Enrique Oliveira of what appeared to be a huge, gnarled tree trunk covering the stand’s corner.

Magro-Rocca of Italy had a neat, small space showing three very interesting artists: Francesca Merletti’s disquieting portraits, both painted and sculpted; Julia Krahn’s angel paintings; and Omar Chacón’s brilliantly executed “color drips.”

The OMR Gallery, as usual, had a very large stand with interesting (not great) works. The best were Candida Hofer’s huge, stunning photographs of magnificent European interiors.

The Galeria Alejandro Sales of Spain showed some interesting work by Xavery Wolsky and La Tinta Negra of Spain came with its usual roster of small, original editions by renowned artists: outstanding were two bas-reliefs by Jan Hendricks.

The Drexel Gallery of Monterrey, as always, brought an array of beautifully executed paintings by Javier Guadarrama, Daniel Lezama, Perla Kraus and Pedro Escape.

The GAM-Galería de Arte Mexicana had its usual, large, well-appointed stand with a few works by most of the artists on its roster. Mary Stuart’s lovely, small fan sculptures and Francisco Toledo’s painting stood out.

The Ginocchio Gallery of Mexico City seems to have broken away from its usual group of neo-mannerist painters, to show some interesting photo works by Claire Becker.

La Industria PR of Puerto Rico, a private culture center dedicated to promoting emerging artists, came to the fair with works by Carolina Caycedo and Omar Gómez. The latter showed a series of socially charged color photo prints.

The much acclaimed Kurinmanzutto Gallery of Mexico City is dedicated to “cutting edge” art, but had average works by its usual stable of artists such as Miguel Calderón, Joshua Okon and Gabriel Orozco.

The MYTO Gallery of Mexico City wants to follow in Kurimanzutto’s footsteps, but someone should tell them that conceptual art doesn’t work without a concept.

Perugi Arte Contemporaneo of Italy had a huge stand with just three colorful, busy paintings by Jason McLean. 

Samson Projects of the US had a large selection of beautifully executed small drawings and paintings, two in particular by Jeffrey Gibson and Susan Sinclaire.

A special new section at the fair this year was Zona Sur, Latin American galleries and those from Europe and the US which showed work by Latin American artists. In many cases, they showed more interesting work than the galleries in the main section. Alexander & Bonin Gallery-US, showed beautiful, small works by Diango Hernández. Galerie Barbara Thumm of Germany showed beautifully drawn ink-on-paper works by Peruvian artist Fernando Bryce. A Gentil Carioca of Brazil showed a series of still photographs by the installation/conceptual “green” artist Thiago Rocha Pitta.

Most Mexican magazines, from art to fashion to economics, were represented in small booths.

All in all, Zona Maco is an art fair which each year becomes more interesting and richer in events. Had the swine flu scare not coincided, I would have stayed longer and returned to the fair a few more times.