Manuel Felguérez

Proyectos Monclova presents the exhibition Conceptos estéticos, encuentros científicos (Aesthetic concepts, scientific encounters) by the Mexican artist Manuel Felguérez, pioneer of cybernetic art in Mexico and member of the Rupture Generation or Breakaway Generation, made up of a group of artists who contravened the nationalist precepts of muralism and reacted against the Mexican School of Painting during the 1950s.

This exhibition features works produced by Felguérez in the seventies that arise as a result of several of his projects, one of them being La máquina estética (The aesthetic machine; 1975-1977), an artistic-scientific investigation that he developed at Harvard University, with the support of the Guggenheim grant, and in collaboration with the systems engineer Mayer Sasson. For three years, the two designed mathematical models to convert stylistic information into numerical data, using geometry, mathematics and cybernetics to develop a system that would generate designs with a large number of possible compositions. The exhibition presents some compositions yielded by this system, as well as paintings and drawings that Felguérez made from them. The exhibition also highlights polychrome metal kinetic sculptures, whose main characteristic is the geometric abstraction in their forms. These pieces are essential to understand the aesthetic model of the artist, developed mainly during the time of La máquina estética.

The exhibition also has a model made for La fábrica del arte (1972), a sculptural project he carried out for La montaña sagrada (The holy mountain; 1973), a science fiction and surrealist-themed film directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky. Finally, the exhibition presents models for public sculptures, some made with cardboard as a first stage of production, followed by a selection of medium-format sculptures made of metal.

With this exhibition, Proyectos Monclova continues its interest in revising, exhibiting and showing, on a national and international level, the work of artists who belonged to the Rupture Generation, as is the case of Manuel Felguérez and Fernando García Ponce, whose work has been introduced to the foreign market through the gallery's participation in international fairs. This reaffirms the gallery's commitment to position the work of artists who have been fundamental in the development of contemporary art in Mexico, such as Helen Escobedo, Ángela Gurría and the aforementioned artists.

— Proyectos Monclova