La Jornada: In 212 pieces, the Marco reviews 40 years of creation by the couple Charles and Ray Eames

Telling Charles and Ray Eames only through a chair is equivalent to leaving out a good part of their career.

For almost four decades, the American couple found in photography, film, toys and information systems different ways of looking at reality, in addition to furniture that consolidated their names as references of 20th century design.

The exhibition Charles & Ray Eames: The unusual beauty of common things, The first monographic review in Mexico dedicated to both creators, it brings together 212 pieces at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey (Marco) to approach a work that contributed to defining the visual culture of the 20th century.

Curated by Brenda Fernández Villanueva, the selection includes 152 photographs, 26 design objects, 21 archival materials and 13 videos distributed in eight thematic cores. Rather than ordering the production chronologically, the tour proposes following the intersections between disciplines that the Eameses never understood as separate territories.

In interview with The Day, Fernández explained that the main challenge was to condense an extraordinarily broad production without losing what distinguishes it. “All the material is very good, and deciding what to leave out was difficult.” The other concern was to build an experience capable of communicating beyond the cards and allowing the visitor to find their own relationships between the elements.

This idea is reflected in the layout of the rooms. “We made thematic modules where the pieces coexist. Each one contains everything from a chair to a video or a photograph,” commented the curator.

The architect Charles Eames and the abstract painter Ray Kaiser began their collaboration in 1940. Films, toys, exhibitions and explorations around image, information and design were part of a 37-year shared work. They produced 125 films, of which 13 are part of this exhibition.

Blacktop (1952), dedicated to the movement of water and foam on an asphalt surface, is among the titles included. The furniture designed by the Eameses allows us to approach these audiovisual works from a direct experience with the objects.

Throughout the investigation, Brenda Fernández identified a constant in the couple’s audiovisual production. Many of those films were born outside of institutional or commercial commissions. “They were explorations that they decided to do. They invested in the moving image because they were pursuing an idea.”

One of the sections closest to the Mexican context recovers the trip that Charles Eames made through Monterrey, Saltillo and San Luis Potosí in 1933. The documentation collected allows us to observe a little-known episode of his training.

That experience, the curator noted, influenced a decision that would accompany the architect for the rest of his professional life. After that journey he stopped accepting jobs solely to guarantee his economic subsistence and assumed his creative pursuits with greater freedom.

Mexico reappears years later in Day of the Dead (1957), the result of a visit to Oaxaca. In it, rituals, objects and representations linked to the celebration of the Day of the Dead are observed, an interest also visible in other approaches to daily life and cultural practices.

The Second World War, the cold war and the development of new communication technologies are part of the historical context of the exhibition. For Fernández, several of the concerns raised then can be related to a reality marked by hypervigilance.

“They teach us to look from a picnic, or from sharing a dish with a loved one or a guest. Also in traditional cultures or in things as simple as a clown painting its face.”

Charles & Ray Eames: The unusual beauty of common things It occupies rooms 9, 10 and 11 on the upper floor of Marco. It can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; On Wednesdays it extends its hours until 8 p.m. On Sundays admission is free. It ends on February 7, 2027. A virtual tour guided by Brenda Fernández Villanueva, accompanied by Lucía Atwood, Eames Office collaborator, and Eames Demetrios, grandson of Charles and Ray Eames, can also be viewed on YouTube (https://bit.ly/4oa2paV).