We are pleased to be part of Feria Material 2024, under their initiative Proyectos, a program designed to support emerging contemporary artistic projects in the country. This marks the first time a gallery from Ciudad Juárez is officially part of the Art Week in Mexico City.
We are pleased to be part of Feria Material 2024, under their initiative Proyectos, a program designed to support emerging contemporary artistic projects in the country. This marks the first time a gallery from Ciudad Juárez is officially part of the Art Week in Mexico City.
Azul Arena is the leading gallery in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. We work with emerging artists that have a lived experience of the border and whose practice is informed by the theoretical, physical, and sociopolitical idea of borders with a practice that relies on a combination of research-based artistic production and socially-engaged practices.
For Feria Material 2024, we present a selection of four artists who had major shows in Azul Arena in the previous year.
Azul Arena is the leading gallery in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. We work with emerging artists that have a lived experience of the border and whose practice is informed by the theoretical, physical, and sociopolitical idea of borders with a practice that relies on a combination of research-based artistic production and socially-engaged practices.
For Feria Material 2024, we present a selection of four artists who had major shows in Azul Arena in the previous year.
FEATURED ARTISTS
Alejandra Aragón
Alejandra Aragón
“El color prehistórico” (‘The Prehistoric Color’) is a project that explores the symbolic values associated with the color pink/magenta and its implications on bodily experiences and the imaginary surrounding identity politics. Its association with the construct of femininity appears to have emerged from the sexual division of labor and market segmentation in the post-war period, without any precedent for this association that has now become normalized. It has been both devalued and politically reclaimed by feminist movements, and even deconstructed by internet generations seeking to remove any association with the gender binary.
The photographic series currently presented consists of the initial stage of the project, where an analysis is conducted through a historical chronology starting from the creation of color film. This involves an archive of toys from each decade and still life compositions that problematize the natural vs. artificial aspects of the magenta spectrum.
Alejandra Aragón is from Ciudad Juárez, México and holds a couple of degrees in Visual Arts and Business from the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez (UACJ). Through a multidisciplinary process using video, audio, photography, performative strategies and found images, her work explores the intersections between gender, territory, and identity from a de-colonial intersectional perspective.
She was part of the Photography Production Seminar of Centro de la Imagen, México City in 2017. Between 2013 and 2018 he has participated in several group exhibitions, including at the Museum of Modern Art in Toluca, Mexico, Centro de la Imagen in Mexico City, at the Fototeca Zacatecas, the Tijuana Cultural Center, Kunsthal Kade Museum in the Netherlands, the Polygon Gallery Canada, and the festivals Monat Der Fotografie Off 2018 in Berlin and Tbilisi 2020 in Georgia. She is currently part of the prestigious Sistema de Creadores granting program.
“El color prehistórico” (‘The Prehistoric Color’) is a project that explores the symbolic values associated with the color pink/magenta and its implications on bodily experiences and the imaginary surrounding identity politics. Its association with the construct of femininity appears to have emerged from the sexual division of labor and market segmentation in the post-war period, without any precedent for this association that has now become normalized. It has been both devalued and politically reclaimed by feminist movements, and even deconstructed by internet generations seeking to remove any association with the gender binary.
The photographic series currently presented consists of the initial stage of the project, where an analysis is conducted through a historical chronology starting from the creation of color film. This involves an archive of toys from each decade and still life compositions that problematize the natural vs. artificial aspects of the magenta spectrum.
Alejandra Aragón is from Ciudad Juárez, México and holds a couple of degrees in Visual Arts and Business from the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez (UACJ). Through a multidisciplinary process using video, audio, photography, performative strategies and found images, her work explores the intersections between gender, territory, and identity from a de-colonial intersectional perspective.
She was part of the Photography Production Seminar of Centro de la Imagen, México City in 2017. Between 2013 and 2018 he has participated in several group exhibitions, including at the Museum of Modern Art in Toluca, Mexico, Centro de la Imagen in Mexico City, at the Fototeca Zacatecas, the Tijuana Cultural Center, Kunsthal Kade Museum in the Netherlands, the Polygon Gallery Canada, and the festivals Monat Der Fotografie Off 2018 in Berlin and Tbilisi 2020 in Georgia. She is currently part of the prestigious Sistema de Creadores granting program.
Alonso Robles
Alonso Robles
Following the artist’s practice of documenting a variety of personal experiences through painting, this series explores the role of “chambelanes” – male dance escorts accompanying women celebrating their fifteenth birthday in many Latin American cultures. As sexist females’ roles in society are cemented in the ritual, little has been explored of the part played by young men in the traditional parties. The men, usually a secondary act in the celebrations, also experience a turning-of-age process that mirrors the expected part that males have to adhere to in their society: a gentle, stoic figure that protects the females in the community, taking away the role that fathers played up until the moment a girl becomes, in the eyes of society, a woman. Through subtle paintings combining the figurative and abstract, Robles playfully looks into the way boys have to pretend they have grown into adulthood, portraying images of the different aspects of the “quinceañera” celebrations.
Alonso Robles (1998) is a visual artist. He studied a bachelor's degree in Visual Arts at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. He received the prestigious grant for Mexican emerging artists, Jóvenes Creadores of the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA), during the 2020-21 generation. He has taken part in various collective and solo exhibitions in Ciudad Juárez, Guadalajara, and Mexico City. In 2022, he completed an artistic residency through La Guerrera, a platform that supports and promotes young art. During this residency, he participated in the contemporary art fair CLAVO. Alonso Robles lives and works in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
Following the artist’s practice of documenting a variety of personal experiences through painting, this series explores the role of “chambelanes” – male dance escorts accompanying women celebrating their fifteenth birthday in many Latin American cultures. As sexist females’ roles in society are cemented in the ritual, little has been explored of the part played by young men in the traditional parties. The men, usually a secondary act in the celebrations, also experience a turning-of-age process that mirrors the expected part that males have to adhere to in their society: a gentle, stoic figure that protects the females in the community, taking away the role that fathers played up until the moment a girl becomes, in the eyes of society, a woman. Through subtle paintings combining the figurative and abstract, Robles playfully looks into the way boys have to pretend they have grown into adulthood, portraying images of the different aspects of the “quinceañera” celebrations.
Alonso Robles (1998) is a visual artist. He studied a bachelor's degree in Visual Arts at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. He received the prestigious grant for Mexican emerging artists, Jóvenes Creadores of the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA), during the 2020-21 generation. He has taken part in various collective and solo exhibitions in Ciudad Juárez, Guadalajara, and Mexico City. In 2022, he completed an artistic residency through La Guerrera, a platform that supports and promotes young art. During this residency, he participated in the contemporary art fair CLAVO. Alonso Robles lives and works in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
Mariana Ajo
Mariana Ajo
“Autobiografía Visual” (‘Visual Autobiography’) presents an inquiry by the artist into her own image, stemming from the realization of being immersed and bombarded by cosmetic trends in mass media. This prompts her to question the beauty standards that have influenced the women in her family and whether her perception of beauty is a result of such genealogical legacy. The constant observation leads the artist to make comparisons between her family and other bodies and aesthetics, creating an archive to understand the influences each generation carries. Simultaneously, each woman becomes a meticulous and particular subject of study. Additionally, there is the confrontation with one's own body and the ideological conflict that accompanies it: looking at oneself without ignoring the collection of images that precede oneself becomes an autoethnographic exercise. Beyond seeking a conclusion, it transforms into a cathartic and self-aware awakening.
Mariana Ajo holds a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the Universidad de Guanajuato and a Master's degree in Studies and Creative Processes in Art and Design from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. Her work focuses on the study of the image of the female body in relation to cultural discourses and practices of bodily embellishment in contemporary social life. She uses photography as a medium for her artistic production and research, aiming to document and analyze everyday observations regarding the construction of femininity models ingrained in visual culture, particularly in entertainment media such as cinema, television, and social networks. She has extensively exhibited in México, with her first solo show taking place in Azul Arena in 2023.
“Autobiografía Visual” (‘Visual Autobiography’) presents an inquiry by the artist into her own image, stemming from the realization of being immersed and bombarded by cosmetic trends in mass media. This prompts her to question the beauty standards that have influenced the women in her family and whether her perception of beauty is a result of such genealogical legacy. The constant observation leads the artist to make comparisons between her family and other bodies and aesthetics, creating an archive to understand the influences each generation carries. Simultaneously, each woman becomes a meticulous and particular subject of study. Additionally, there is the confrontation with one's own body and the ideological conflict that accompanies it: looking at oneself without ignoring the collection of images that precede oneself becomes an autoethnographic exercise. Beyond seeking a conclusion, it transforms into a cathartic and self-aware awakening.
Mariana Ajo holds a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the Universidad de Guanajuato and a Master's degree in Studies and Creative Processes in Art and Design from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. Her work focuses on the study of the image of the female body in relation to cultural discourses and practices of bodily embellishment in contemporary social life. She uses photography as a medium for her artistic production and research, aiming to document and analyze everyday observations regarding the construction of femininity models ingrained in visual culture, particularly in entertainment media such as cinema, television, and social networks. She has extensively exhibited in México, with her first solo show taking place in Azul Arena in 2023.
Salvador de la Torre
Salvador de la Torre
With his artistic practice, Salvador de la Torre has documented a succession of intimate discoveries, incorporating actions that traverse his personal, familial, and geographic experiences. Over the years, his work has woven a narrative that illustrates the various axes that have marked his life, beginning with inquiries into gender dynamics within his family and culminating in self-acceptance as a transgender person and the eventual process of transition.
During the course of his medical treatment, Salvador developed a body of work titled “Siempre fui él" ('I was always him'), relying on a variety of mediums to document the various stages of his journey. With ceramics, Salvador recreated busts and sexual organs, such as nipples in various shapes and sizes, as the reconstructive surgical processes allowed for the variety represented; and vulvas that show the physical transformation developed after hormone treatment Additionally, using linocut, the artist replicated his chest; and finally, through body printing, he documented the process of his double mastectomy and the effects of hormonal treatment.
Salvador de la Torre was born in Mexico and raised in Texas. He is an artist, educator, and storyteller currently based in Southern California. His work harnesses the power of personal experience and family history to create artworks that exist at the intersection of activism, art, and self-acceptance practices. His artistic practice incorporates a wide range of mediums, such as photography, performance, and embroidery He has exhibited internationally with major exhibitions happening in Ciudad Juárez in 2023, and Los Angeles in 2024. He pursued an MFA at California State University, Fullerton, and earned a BA from Texas A&M International University.
With his artistic practice, Salvador de la Torre has documented a succession of intimate discoveries, incorporating actions that traverse his personal, familial, and geographic experiences. Over the years, his work has woven a narrative that illustrates the various axes that have marked his life, beginning with inquiries into gender dynamics within his family and culminating in self-acceptance as a transgender person and the eventual process of transition.
During the course of his medical treatment, Salvador developed a body of work titled “Siempre fui él" ('I was always him'), relying on a variety of mediums to document the various stages of his journey. With ceramics, Salvador recreated busts and sexual organs, such as nipples in various shapes and sizes, as the reconstructive surgical processes allowed for the variety represented; and vulvas that show the physical transformation developed after hormone treatment Additionally, using linocut, the artist replicated his chest; and finally, through body printing, he documented the process of his double mastectomy and the effects of hormonal treatment.
Salvador de la Torre was born in Mexico and raised in Texas. He is an artist, educator, and storyteller currently based in Southern California. His work harnesses the power of personal experience and family history to create artworks that exist at the intersection of activism, art, and self-acceptance practices. His artistic practice incorporates a wide range of mediums, such as photography, performance, and embroidery He has exhibited internationally with major exhibitions happening in Ciudad Juárez in 2023, and Los Angeles in 2024. He pursued an MFA at California State University, Fullerton, and earned a BA from Texas A&M International University.