Dios Nunca Muere
the visual politics of transmutation in contemporary Oaxacan art
José Arnaud Bello | Alfonso Barranco Sánchez | Ana Belén Paizanni
Arian Dylan | Moisés García Nava | Joel Gómez | Mariana Gullco
Daniel Guzmán | Luis Hampshire | Saúl Hernández | Dr. Lakra
Morelos León Celis | Roberto López Flores | Saúl López Velarde
Rolando Martínez | Rosa Vallejo | Jessica Wozny
April 2 to May 1, 2010
Dios Nunca Muere explores the seismic shift in contemporary art practice in Oaxaca, Mexico over the last two decades. The work of these artists—both individually and collectively—parallels and reflects widespread social, political and economic changes in the region. Informed by such social and material conditions, this new wave of artist/provocateurs is dismantling the prevailing hegemony of the Romantic artist/auteur in favour of collaborative approaches, social practice and self-examination. As they embrace the area’s unique geographical isolation and historical reputation as a ground zero for resistance, transformation and revelation, the artists in this exhibition do so through an international perspective and critical dialogue with the art world at large.
Curated by Deborah de Boer (Victoria) and Luis Hampshire (Oaxaca), Dios Nunca Muere is the first exhibition of its kind to engage with a sporadically recognized, but generally unheralded group of artists in order to provide a unique and immersive experience of a vitally important but virtually occult chapter in the contemporary art history of Mexico.