Creative impulse reveals the thematic versatility of the cartoonist Melecio Galván

The thematic versatility of the cartoonist Melecio Galván (1945-1982) is demonstrated in creative impulse, exhibition of 28 pieces (20 originals and eight copies), which opened yesterday at the Mexico City Museum. Its purpose is to appreciate the breadth of the vision of this artist, who died prematurely, whose murder has never been clarified.

Curated by his daughter, Amaranta Galván Jiménez, the exhibition includes six thematic cores: One hundred years of loneliness, with four color pieces, in comic format, made on his own initiative; The Amarantas, whose cartoons are a tribute to the women who inspired the artist; The boy and the television, The boy and the gorilla, The children, sections dedicated to childhood as a source of inspiration, and Melodic incidents of the irrational world, a graphic reinterpretation of the story of the same name by Juan de la Cabada, published in 1944.

The last thematic core includes three notebooks, one of which is unfinished. “He had it with him when they killed him. He also brought the missal, with about 18 illustrations that are like the sketch of the final result of the artist’s book. “Melodic Incidents of the Irrational World,” says Galván Jiménez. Fortunately, the material could be recovered.

The exhibition is an initiative of the Ministry of Culture of Mexico City. According to Luis Gallardo, manager of Ágora Galería de Pueblo, “Alma Muñoz, wife of Antonio Helguera, triggered the proposal in the museum as part of the program of the Antonio Helguera cabinet of wonders. “The caricaturist considered Galván a creator of great influence on his work.” Finally, it was finalized for the adjacent room, although it is proposed as part of a sample of the Cabinet of wonders.

Requirement in detail

When analyzing the work exhibited on different occasions in the country’s capital, given that people are usually interested in Militarism and repression, series that is kept on loan by the University Museum of Contemporary Art of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, it was decided to focus on the pieces with less focus of attention, although they are of high quality. My dad even used a thread counter to draw, which required a level of demand in terms of the detail of the drawing and the fineness of the line.points out his daughter.

Another proposal was tenderness as a rebellious, revolutionary part. For the custody of his father’s work, the tenderness in Galván’s work is like a place of rest, but also of resistance.

Last March, the Blanton Museum of Art, in Austin, Texas, opened Meet Melecio Galván: The secret artist and his Mexican contemporaries, the cartoonist’s first exhibition in a US venue. This was possible thanks to a donation of Galván’s work made to the museum dependent on the University of Texas. The exhibition was a spearhead to revive the artist’s theme, revalue his aesthetic contribution and project his work on an international scale.

An exhibition at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego is still scheduled for February 2026. As the person in charge of her father’s collection, Galván Jiménez would be interested in organizing at least three international exhibitions. Each curatorship always sheds new lighthe assures.

Promote his father’s work has led me to discover the artist Meleciosays Galván Jiménez. I knew Melecio, my father, who for 12 years was my best friend, my accomplice, the one who covered up my antics. Now, I have met the artist, the friend, the Mira group partner, the husband, the brother, the son. This has been very revealing for me, as well as knowing his work.

From 1977 to 1981, Galván was part of the group Mira. His Graphic Release no. 1 In 1978, he won the Militant Graphics contest organized by the Autonomous University of Puebla and the Intergraffik Grand Prize (1989) in Berlin, in the then German Democratic Republic.

Melecio Galván: Creative drive It will be exhibited until March 2, 2025 at the Mexico City Museum (Pino Suárez 30, Centro Historico).