Francisco Toledo
dal 13/4/2000 al 7/6/2000
Segnalato da
13/4/2000
Francisco Toledo
Whitechapel, London
First comprehensive show for 20
years of work by the most important and controversial artist
working in Mexico today
"Toledo is animistic, rational, ferociously
sexual, enamoured of the abstractions of
nature, capable of staggering brusqueness
and timid tenderness..."
Carlos Monsiváis
Francisco Toledo (b. 1940) is the most
important and controversial artist working in
Mexico today. Internationally revered, he is
also notoriously elusive and the Whitechapel is
honoured to stage his first comprehensive
exhibition for twenty years. Toledo's work is
celebrated for its highly charged images that
draw on human, animal, mineral and spiritual
life. They are executed in vivid graphic detail,
suffused with an air of violence, irony and
eroticism, and realised with potent
combinations of organic materials.
Toledo arrived in Paris aged 19 and was
showing in leading galleries throughout Europe
and New York within 5 years. Despite his
success he returned to Mexico in 1965, with a
deep interest in recovering elements of his
native Zapotec ethnicity and the cultural mixes
particular to the Isthmus region. He has since
explored both indigenous and world-wide
cultures in his work, freely associating direct
observations from nature with metaphors from
literature and art. References to Blake, Goya,
Ensor, Dürer, Klee, Miró, and writers like Kafka
and Borges, become entwined with imagery
from popular Indian fables and the political
history of Mexico to create strange, harrowing
visions like a woman overwhelmed by
predatory fish and a human skeleton trapped
within a grasshopper. More recently he has
concentrated on self portraits, close
anatomical studies of small creatures and
temporary works that disappear in the rain.
Since the eighties Toledo has led a parallel life,
actively engaged in social projects, running a
publishing house and transforming colonial
buildings in Oaxaca into cultural centres. They
now house remarkable collections of graphics
and photographs, as well as spaces for
exhibitions and films and a library for the blind,
used by locals and visitors. His original artistic
vision, zealous insistence on the holistic role
of artists in society and radical cultural
interventions have been admired and emulated
by younger artists and curators such as
Gabriel Orozco, Francis Alÿs, Cuauhtémoc
Medina and Olivier Debroise.
A unique 160 page catalogue, published by
Turner Libros and available in English and
Spanish, will include essays by Dr Dawn Ades
and Carlos Monsiváis, reproductions of 100
works and a detailed chronology.
Curated by the Director, Catherine Lampert,
and organised in collaboration with the
Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes,
Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico and
el Museo de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid.
Supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
through the Mexican Institute for International
Co-operation (IMEXCI), the Mexican Embassy;
Instituto Anglo-Mexicano de Cultura; Sol
Imported Beer; Fomento Cultural Banamex,
Visiting Arts, and the Museums and Galleries
Commission through the Government
Indemnity.
For more information call Roger Tatley
(020 7522 7880) or Rebecca Morrill (020
7522 7898).
Para Toledo / For Toledo
Wednesday 24 May
6.00 pm in gallery cafe
FREE
Informal event to celebrate exhibiting artist,
Francisco Toledo's artistic relationship and
connections to poetry. Readings selected by
Stephen Watts and read by: Diego de Jesus,
Adriana Diaz Enciso and Stephen Watts.
The reading will be followed by an informal
discussion and refreshments.
Whitechapel Art Gallery
80 Whitechapel High St, E1 7QX
Rec.Info 020 7522 7878/Enq
020 7522 7888
Daily 11-5, Wed 11-8, closed
Mondays