La Jornada: The Tamayo Museum harmonizes its origin with the future and the contemporary

When Rufino Tamayo opened the doors of the museum that bears his name in 1981, he opted for a space capable of bringing together the art of his time without letting go of the roots that nourished his painting.

Today that search takes shape between archives rescued from those years, an installation inspired by Latin American television and a selection dedicated to the sensitivity of the Oaxacan artist.

The Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art inaugurates the exhibitions today simultaneously Before the eclipse. Archaeologies of art in Mexico; With everything and my sadnessby the Peruvian artist Fátima Rodrigo, and Tamayo Horizontes.

The director of the venue, Andrea Torreblanca, will participate in the opening; the curators Maco Sánchez Blanco, Ixel Rion and Juan Carlos Pereda, as well as several of the participating creators.

“One of the slogans that we are using for these 45 years is contemporary from the origin,” said Torreblanca (Mexico City, 1979), in an interview with The Day.

For the director, the three proposals allow us to bring together in the same route works by the founder of the venue, creations that emerged during its first years, contemporary bets and part of the international collection gathered by the institution.

Look at the 80s

“Visitors will be able to see both a very young contemporary artist and works by Tamayo, pieces from the 80s and part of the collection. There is a very wide repertoire of languages ​​and trends.”

Before the eclipse. Archaeologies of art in Mexico It brings together a hundred pieces by more than 60 artists and reviews the period between 1981 and 1991. Far from the most widespread readings of that time, it recovers searches related to landscape, mythical imaginaries, archeology and the first approaches to conceptual art.

“We intend to give an alternative look at what we really know from the 80s. The artists explore Mexico from the landscape, the mythical, archeology and the first approaches to conceptual art,” explained Torreblanca.

The title refers to the total solar eclipse of 1991, an event that serves as a starting point to return to concerns linked to the pre-Hispanic past and social ecology.

The research involved reviewing personal files and public and private collections. Some works had never been exhibited; others had been out of circulation for years.

According to the director, the project “has literally required archeology work as a methodology. The artists themselves have searched their archives and workshops to recover pieces from 40 years ago.”

Among the materials gathered, the large-format sculptures made by Adolfo Riestra, unpublished works by Ulf Rollof and The travelerby Juan Francisco Elso.

With everything and my sadness occupies the central patio with an installation created for that space. The artist Fátima Rodrigo recovers the aesthetics of the musical television programs of the 80s in Latin America and puts it in dialogue with geometricism and regional abstraction.

According to Torreblanca, the installation must be understood as a unit. “It is bold in its color, dimensions and volume. Visitors can relate to it from a nostalgic place, but also from art history and a much deeper interaction.”

Tamayo Horizontes It brings together more than 20 works from different collections and proposes a more intimate approach to Rufino Tamayo through portraiture, landscape and color.

Regarding the Oaxacan artist, Andrea Torreblanca recalled: “he was always based on the idea of ​​returning to the past, of finding in his own roots a source of inspiration to make a work that spoke of that time.”

This vocation for dialogue between tradition and current affairs remains among the axes of the institution, which has maintained its original mission and its ability to convene creators to develop new projects.

The founding collection totaled around 300 works at the time of opening in 1981. Today it is close to a thousand thanks to acquisitions, donations and commissions incorporated over more than four decades.

Although the 45th anniversary of the Tamayo Museum was celebrated on May 29, the celebration will continue during the rest of the year with public programs, discussions and publications, among which a volume dedicated to 100 emblematic pieces from the collection stands out, accompanied by a text by historian and curator Juan Carlos Pereda.

The book seeks to recover the perspective of those who knew the formation of the collection up close. In the words of Andrea Torreblanca, “we wanted to give a voice to maestro Pereda, who knows both Rufino and Olga Tamayo very closely. It is a very beautiful text that gives an account of how they are building this heritage little by little.”

A collaboration with the Spanish curator Chus Martínez is also planned, in addition to new activities linked to the library, the documentation center and the museum’s public spaces. The goal is for “the museum to consolidate itself as a much more lively space for all audiences.”

Tamayo Horizontes will remain open until September 20, With everything and my sadness will conclude on September 27 and Before the eclipse. Archaeologies of art in Mexico It will be available until October 18 at the Tamayo Contemporary Art Museum (Paseo de la Reforma 51, corner with Calzada Mahatma Gandhi, First Section of Bosque de Chapultepec, Miguel Hidalgo mayor’s office).