A guide to visit Zona Maco, the great meeting place for art in Latin America

Zona Maco, the great meeting of art galleries in Latin America, opens to the public this Wednesday, February 8 in Mexico City.

For five days, 210 exhibitors, half national and half international, will show the work of modern and contemporary artists, design pieces, antiques and photography.

“In the last edition, due to the pandemic, there were certain precautions and uncertainties.

I think this will be characterized by a large influx of public and by once again being an important meeting point within contemporary art at an international level”, estimates Juan Canela from Seville, artistic director of Zona Maco.

The meeting is at the Citibanamex Center, in the northwest of Mexico City, with tickets starting at 450 pesos ($24) per day.

The Zona Maco section dedicated to modern art and contemporary art, the strongest of the fair, is divided into four sections: the general one, where the world's leading galleries exhibit;

Zona Maco Ejes, which is committed to young galleries;

Zona Maco Modern Art, which this year will have pieces by Rufino Tamayo, Xul Solar, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, and Zona Maco Sur, focused on the work of artists from the global south.

During the days that Zona Maco lasts, other activities are organized within the framework of Art Week, such as the Material fair or the Acme Hall.

In independent spaces and galleries in Mexico City there will also be different exhibitions and activities.

In addition, two new foreign galleries will be inaugurated in the capital.

Deli Gallery, based in New York, will open a space in Colonia Roma, and Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, with locations in Chicago and Paris, will have a third location in Colonia Renacimiento.

EL PAÍS has spoken with three curators of the fair, two collectors' advisers, a critic and the director of an art museum to find out what the most outstanding activities of the meeting are.

The six experts consulted agree on some recommendations, such as a visit to the Martin Janda gallery, in Vienna, or the Joan Gaspar gallery, in Barcelona, ​​who are coming to the fair for the first time;

the tour of the Continua gallery, with offices in San Gimignano, Beijing, Les Moulins and Havana, or the stop at the NASAL gallery, with spaces in Guayaquil and Mexico City.

“It is difficult to recommend one over the other, especially in Zona Maco, which is so heterogeneous.

Surely each person will find something with which they connect ”, warns the artistic director of the fair.

This is the guide with the recommendations of Juan Canela, Ana Castella, Taiyana Pimentel,

John Cinnamon

Artistic director of Zona Maco and chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Panama (Seville, 42 years old)

Juan Canela begins the list with three recommendations.

“Things I wouldn't miss: the Hauser & Wirth

, an impressive gallery in Zurich that returns to the fair after a few years;

Sean Kelly, another major [New York] gallery, as well as Continua Gallery.

They are three of the most important internationally with offices in several countries and with several artists and who have important proposals at the fair”, he affirms.

And he continues: “Of the Mexicans, I would not miss the

that the Proyectos Monclova gallery is doing in collaboration with the Simões de Assis gallery, from Brazil.

They are presenting artists who straddle the modern and the contemporary.

It is going to have some historical artists conversing with younger artists”.

The artistic director of Zona Maco points out that he finds the works presented in the Zona Maco Sur section “very interesting”.

Canela lists galleries such as Diablo Rosso, from Panama;

Karla Osorio, from Brazil;

Martín Janda, from Vienna, or Anca Poterasu, from Romania.

He also highlights the presentations in the Zona Maco Ejes section, which presents proposals from young galleries that are "rethinking what it means to be a gallery in the current context."

The curator points to the HOA gallery, in São Paulo, which works with black and indigenous artists from Latin America and Africa, or the NASAL gallery “In the design part, we once again have the Emergentes part.

This year we have a record of participation, with many young designers”, he adds.

The work 'Couleur Additive 14' (Carlos Cruz Diez) that the Continua Gallery brings to Zona Maco. Courtesy (Zona Maco)

Ana Castella

Representative of Latin America, Spain and Portugal of the specialized magazine 'Artforum', collectors advisor and guest curator at Salón Acme (Mexico City, 43 years old)

Ana Castella recommends "devoting quite a few hours" to the tour of Zona Maco.

In the general section, Castella suggests visiting the Nils Staerk gallery, in Copenhagen, to see the works of the Danish artist FOS and the Guatemalan artist Darío Escobar.

“Another must-stop would be Mexico City's Gaga Gallery to see recent textile pieces by Cosima von Bonin and the artist duo ASMA,” she adds.

She also suggests stopping by the Continua gallery: "It has a terrific program with one of the most impressive spaces I've ever seen."

Castella adds two stops to the visit: to the Quetzalli gallery, in Oaxaca, and to La Cometa, in Bogotá.

In Zona Maco Ejes, Castella recommends visiting the space of the Ecuadorian gallery Proyecto NASAL "They are going to present a

with work by Pablo Andino, Armando Rosales, Gerardo García Contreras and Miguel Andrade Valdés."

And he also suggests seeing the Colombian gallery SGR, "particularly the pieces by the Mexican Elisa Pinto and the Colombian Christian Abusaid."

He also proposes not to miss the area of ​​magazines and design: "I am very much of the idea of ​​trying to do a complete tour."

An untitled sculpture by artist Pablo Andino, from the Ecuadorian gallery NASAL Courtesy (Zona Maco)

Castella completes his list with activities that take place outside of Zona Maco.

At the Saenger Gallery, he proposes to see the works of Robert Janitz and Yoab Vera;

in the RGR gallery, he recommends an exhibition by the Venezuelan Jesús Rafael Soto;

In Travesía Cuatro, he suggests stopping at the

exhibition , by the Spanish Álvaro Urbano, and in Salón Silicón and Peana, “smaller and more emerging spaces”, he asks to stop to see the works of Ángela Ferrari and Adrián S. Bará, respectively.

From Salón Acme, where this year she participates as a guest curator, Castella recommends the proposal of the Argentine Mariela Scafati: “She works with new ways of painting.

It will be a sculptural, pictorial installation, even a performative one”.

Castella's list is long and she would continue: "There is a lot to see in the week."

Taiyana Pimentel

Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey (Havana, Cuba)

Taiyana Pimentel recommends, above all, visiting the Mexican galleries that bring "artists with new productions" made especially for the fair: "I think the projects of the Proyectos Monclova, Kurimanzutto, OMR, Labor... galleries are not to be missed."

Each of the galleries opens exhibitions on February 7 in their spaces.

Monclova Projects presents

, a show by the German artist Michael Sailstorfer, and

Today , by the Mexican Josué Mejía.

Kurimanzutto exhibits

, an exhibition by the Iranian sculptor Nairy Baghramian.

OMR opens

, an exhibition by the Polish Alicja Kwade, and Labor brings

, by the Mexican Héctor Zamora.

For young collectors, Pimentel suggests keeping an eye on the Karen Huber gallery in Mexico.

“I am surprised at the good level he is managing in a gallery that is still a modest space”, she says.

She especially recommends seeing the work of the artist Ana Segovia there: “She is doing an analysis of how the issue of gender has been handled through the history of Mexican cinema from the golden age.

We don't know what paths she will take in the future, but I think she is launching a new body of work that is transcendental”.

The curator points out that the artist's research "is based on a very novel pictorial layer and an impressive use of color," and adds: "The work is still at a very good price, around $9,000 for the small format."

Pimentel also suggests a walk through the Travesía Cuatro gallery, based in Madrid, Mexico City and Guadalajara.

“They basically expose the artists from Guadalajara: Gonzalo Lebrija, José Dávila and Jorge Méndez Blake”, he explains.

He also recommends visiting the Dominican gallery Lyle O'Reitzel, with spaces in New York and Santo Domingo.

Within that gallery, the work of José Bedia stands out, a Cuban painter who currently has a retrospective at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey.

In addition, Pimentel proposes to visit Material: “They give

to independent spaces that produce new artists.

They are artists who are not yet commercially represented but who have interesting works that can range from $1,000 to $5,000.”

One of the works of the Dominican gallery recommended by Pimentel: Lyle O'Reitzel.

It is titled 'Jubilo de Aponte' (José Bedia). Courtesy (Zona Maco)

Luiza Teixeira de Freitas

Guest curator from Zona Maco Sur (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 39 years old)

“This year my section is very focused on concepts of the feminine.

Not exactly female artists, but artists who think about the feminine”, says Luiza Teixeira de Freitas.

The curator highlights that "one of the main entries this year" in Zona Maco Sur is that of the Martin Janda gallery, in Vienna.

They will exhibit the work of the Mexican artist Tania Pérez Córdova (who currently has a show at the Museo Tamayo).

The work of Pérez Córdova, points out Teixeira de Freitas, dialogues with that of the Austrian Svenja Deninger: “Pérez Córdova works with sculpture, with pieces that seem to be one thing but are another.

For example, a piece of land that looks like a forearm;

Deninger makes abstract but very feminine paintings”.

“The Brazilian dialogues, between Marli Matsumoto and Quadra, two very young galleries from São Paulo, will also be very good”, explains the curator.

The first brings the trans artist Elle de Bernardini, "who works a lot with fashion and gender issues."

“They are clothes that become body.

It is as if the body came out of the clothes.

It is very strong”, explains Teixeira de Freitas.

The second, on the other hand, will bring a "younger, very feminine, very simple" artist, which is Carla Santana.

Teixeira de Freitas also highlights the proposals of the Bianca Bockel gallery, which will show the work of Andrea Rocco, "probably the most feminine project in the section";

from C. Galería, which brings the work of Laura Villarosa, and from Nuweland, which will show the works of South African artists Claire Johnson and Morné Visagie.

'Untitled (2)' by Ana Cláudia Almeida, which will be in the QUADRA gallery in Zona Maco. Courtesy (Zona Maco)

Daniela Zarate

Art consultant (Mexico City, 44 years old)

Daniela Zárate points out that this year the program of conferences organized by Zona Maco "caught her a lot of attention".

“One of the most important things for an art market to establish itself and grow is education,” says Zárate, and continues: “I think it's incredible that the program is giving importance to this issue because many times people who start to Buying art does not know how to approach it or it approaches for the wrong reasons, or because it is an investment or something decorative and does not understand that there is an ecosystem that is very important to sustain the market and support the career of artists”.

The consultant recommends, for example, the talk that will take place on Wednesday the 8th between the artist Mark Bradford and the director of the Zapopan Art Museum, Viviana Kuri, about the exhibition

Zárate also suggests going through the space of the Hauser & Wirth gallery, which brings Bradford, to see the work of the American artist.

The consultant recommends attending the conversation

between Boris Hirmas, a Mexican collector, Antonio Murzi, a collector from Panama, and Juan Canela, artistic director of Zona Maco.

And he proposes to attend the conversation

, in which several curators will participate.

Octavio Avendano

Art critic and curator (Mexico City, 36 years old)

“What excites me about this edition is a greater number of galleries diversity”, affirms the curator Octavio Avendaño, and continues: “This edition, unlike the previous ones, will be characterized by having a greater presence of Mexican galleries.

The big international galleries, such as David Zwirner, Perrotin and Pace Gallery, have ceased to have a presence since 2019 due to the phenomenon of Frize Los Angeles, which takes place around the same dates, which is not necessarily a negative thing”.

Avendaño draws attention to four names: that of the Serbian Biljana Djurdjević, that of the Mexicans Alejandro García Contrera and Fernando Palma, and that of the American William Anastasi.

The Serbian artist Biljana Djurdjević will be with the Hestia gallery, in Belgrade.

“I think the relationship [of her work] with issues of gender violence and the role of women in conflict contexts is important,” says Avendaño.

The Mexican Alejandro García Contrera will be presented by the Peruvian gallery Proyecto NASAL "His work stems from an ancient tradition, such as ceramics, but with a contemporary strategy," he affirms.

The curator highlights "the mastery of his work" and the way in which he approaches "subjects that are socially considered taboo, such as the consumption of certain sexual practices."

'Volume VI September 16 with February 5' (Raúl Guerrero), from the GAGA gallery. Courtesy (Zona Maco)

The American William Anastasi arrives in Zona Maco with the Mexican gallery Mascota.

"He is considered the precursor of conceptual art and minimalism, but he is not present in the great stories of art history," says Avendaño.

The Mexican Fernando Palma will be with the Gaga gallery, with offices in Mexico and Los Angeles.

Palma presented his work in the Mexican pavilion of the 2022 Venice Biennale: “It is a good opportunity to learn about the work that he proposes after his participation in the Biennale.

It might be interesting to see what repercussions his involvement had on his work.”

The curator adds that the works of the Argentine Leandro Erlich, in the Continua gallery, and the Polish Alicia Kwade, in OMR, are also “unmissable”.

Stephen King

Guest curator of Zona Maco Ejes and art historian (Mexico City, 36 years old)

Esteban King, guest curator of the fair, takes a tour from south to north through the galleries that will exhibit modern art in Zona Maco.

From Punta del Este, in Uruguay, the Sur gallery returns this year, which will bring works by Joaquín Torres García, a painter who "questions the canonical, centralist and colonial narratives of art," explains King.

The curator highlights the presence of the Almeida e Dale gallery, from Brazil, which will show the work of Eleonore Koch, an artist born in Berlin during the Weimar Republic who developed her artistic career in Brazil.

"It's hard to see here," warns King.

There will also be the galleries El Museo, from Bogotá, and Duque Arango, from Medellín, and spaces from the United States, such as Durban Segnini or Art of the World.

King is now focusing on local participation: “There is the Enrique Guerrero gallery, which has impressive pieces by Rodolfo Morales, Joaquín Clausell and Roberto Montenegro.

There is the LS/Gallery with works by Gunther Gerszo, who developed a work of abstraction based on pre-Hispanic ruins, and other emblematic artists of the rupture such as Manuel Felguerez, Pedro Coronel and Rufino Tamayo.

The GAM, the oldest gallery in the country, is going to present pieces by Carlos Mérida, Diego Rivera and other lesser-known artists such as the painter Joy Laville [English nationalized Mexican national].

We also have Diptych Fine Arts and Pablo Goebel, who is going to present a series of very interesting

: this avant-garde artist, cartoonist and linked to anthropology”.

'Self-portrait' (1968, Pedro Coronel), by Dyptich Fine Arts. Courtesy (Zona Maco)

A novelty in the modern art section will be the arrival, for the first time at the fair, of the Catalan gallery Joan Gaspar, which will present works by artists such as Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso.

“Although it is a fair focused on Latin American creators, we will also have some expressions from the United States and Europe that allow us to see all these global dialogues in the field of modern art,” says King.

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