César Martínez Silva, an incorrect artist, but in an aesthetic way

Humor, in all its aspects, is an element that permeates the work of the self-proclaimed artist indisciplinary César Martínez Silva (Mexico City, 1962). It is present from the title of her current exhibition at Ex Teresa Arte Actual: The idea and the odyssey, a review of more than 30 years of experience; then in the subtitle Artentados, free-eating metabolism and stories of the colorblind chameleon, and by direct invitation: drink chocolate, don’t pay what you owealluding to his edible sculptures. It is curated by Gloria Maldonado Ansó.

“Mexicans play with language all the time. I take it to another territory, I take it out of popular slang and transfer it to the museum or art gallery.

“Once in Spain they asked me why we Mexicans laughed at death. I answered: ‘if we don’t laugh, we die.’

“For me, laughter is a resource, something that I do not want to be lost, that it also becomes a tool. Artists like Marcel Duchamp used humor at some point. Melquiades Herrera, considered the conceptual father of all artists performeros Mexicans, he used humor, which is also transgressive. It is part of the teachings and at the same time it is intellectual. It is politically incorrect, but in an aesthetic way,” says Martínez Silva to The Day.

The exhibition includes 130 works of various conceptual proposals, from the 80s of the last century to the present.

It covers a wide range of forms of expression, among which the artivism –artistic actions as a protest against political circumstances and events–, ephemeral pieces, collages, landscapes and intervened images, drawings with gunpowder and performance.

His line of research has always consisted of turn the public into co-creator. Let it be a performing public.

Of gunpowder and dynamite

The work of this professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Unidad Azcapotzalco has never been passivebut involves the public in various ways. For example, he started with work done with gunpowder on the project Explore: a series of capsules containing pigments were detonated in front of the audience and, like a brush, painted the canvas with colors. This piece won the National Young Art Award in 1991.

From there he went on to work with dynamite. For the creation of the sculptures of the project The use of explosives for artistic purposes, Martínez Silva used dynamite and nitroglycerin, with the purpose of build what is destroyed. The pieces made of stainless steel were made with the advice of the Italian sculptor Silvana Cenci, in the forests of Northwood, New Hampshire, United States, between 1993 and 1994.

sculptural events It consists of three human figures made of platinum silicone, which are inflated and deflated in front of the viewer using sensors. At first they were made of black latex, as a criticism of the air pollution that is breathed in cities; for the occasion I changed the dynamic and decided to work with lightsclarifies.

Another project included is Lapidaries and epitadesafíos, play on words, consisting of flat sculptures like tombstones. These species of grave heads display poems or short, playful phrases that reflect on death. For this, the sculptor and artist of performance took as a reference the improvised graves on public roads or crosses that people leave when someone is run over or killed.

In addition, chronicles of performances unrealized, such as the series of collages digital images that show the trajineras of Xochimilco navigating the rivers of the world, as a representation of the reverse discovery, from America to Europe.

Martínez Silva cares that the public leaves happy after seeing his work. That do not be an indigestible work; There are many artists who work under the concept of being untranslatable. Although it is true that a work of art is open source, sometimes the public lacks the necessary interpretation mechanisms. I am interested in activating the imagination, that the artist is not an isolated individual, but rather a promoter of more active participation.. From there, his offering of gourmet cannibalism which has been presented in many ways.

As part of the opening ceremony, Martínez Silva performed the performance Have chocolate, don’t pay what you owe. Thus, the public shares the collective tasting of a human-scale chocolate sculpture, cooked in collaboration with chef Mariano Welner Encinas.

One of the ideas is share these symbolic nutrients to place the work of art within the viewer’s body. The artist has had the opportunity to show this work and feed audiences of many nationalities.

The idea and the odyssey It is exhibited until February 9, 2025, at Ex Teresa Arte Actual (Lic. Verdad 8, Centro Historico).