Curated by: Alejandro Pintado

Artists: Carlos Amorales, Artemio, Erick Beltrán, Ximena Cuevas, Mario de Vega, Sylvia Gruner, Pablo Helguera, Rubén Ortiz Torres Alicia Paz, Rodrigo Tovar, and 24/7: Pablo León de la Barra, Beatriz Lopez, and Sebastián Ramirez. (artist bios)

"Speedy González is German: Playing with Stereotypes," is a show that is composed by artists that question and play with the notions of what is understood as Mexican, by playing with clichés and the stereotypes.

When you talk about Mexico abroad, numerous questions about the country often arise: “What happened to Subcomandante Marcos? Is the street violence, the corruption and the kidnappings still going on? What about the “narcos” (narcotics)? Someone told me that the best Spring Breaks are spent in some beaches near Cancun, is that right?” In general, these types of questions tend to be the rule. Just like any other country in the world, Mexico is known by what is seen in the media, and this vision tends to be partial at best. For many, Mexico’s identity is comprised of piñatas, tequila, margaritas, Football (Soccer) and Tex-Mex food. In terms of art, Frida Kahlo is still the Mexican art icon, no matter what is happening nowadays in the Mexican art scene. The “concept” of Mexico is still seen as exotic.

The exhibition is an opportunity to develop and debate the question, suppositions, and rules associated with the concepts of ‘Mexican’ and ‘Mexico’ and to create a structure which questions both Mexican’s own notion of identify and the process whereby western and ‘first world’ cultures digest and codify concepts pf ‘foreignness’, ‘strangeness’ and the ‘other’. This exhibition will try to present and contextualize a show of Mexican contemporary art that will invite both artists and spectators to move beyond the expected.