Alfonso Michel

The Galería de Arte Mexicano invites you to the solo exhibition by Alfonso Michel, Magia pura, curated by Daniel Garza Usabiaga.

A story about Alfonso Michel (1897–1957) has yet to be written, imagined, or invented. As several historians and critics have noted, the most systematic knowledge of the artist and his work begins in 1945, when he had his first solo exhibition at the Galería de Arte Mexicano – GAM, at nearly 50 years of age. Few works by this artist, originally from Colima, are known to have been created before that year.

The type of works centered on objects, flowers, and small living beings was one of Michel's preferred genres and is quite predominant in his production from the 1950s, when he had two shows at GAM: one in 1954 and the second in 1957 – just days before his death. Various critics of his work have written about the still lifes he created during this period and how they became more complex, both in their density and their symbolism. Some possess an "apocalyptic" quality, as if anticipating the end of his existence. The mysticism of Cáliz (1956) is part of this moment and reflects this disposition. This painting presents another of the recurring symbolic motifs in Michel's painting, which initially appears as a hand separated from a mannequin in La carta (1936). This early work testifies to the continuity of an interest throughout his career.

There is a living world, on a micro level, that unfolds in Michel's still lifes. Few artists hold such an affection for the world of insects. In some of his works, butterflies, larvae, worms, and other small, indeterminate creatures appear discreetly. They appear, almost as an illustration of metamorphosis, in Un cielo en Manzanillo (1954) – a painting featuring a butterfly as a luminous star against the blue background of the work. The scene also includes a pair of seashells and sea snails – another symbolic element in the artist's paintings. These shells, as well as certain animals or other material entities, were not only part of an individual symbolic repertoire; they often formed shared motifs or held meanings encrypted by a minority. Some of these motifs, such as horses or shells, appear in the work of several of his friends and fellow homosexual artists, such as Agustín Lazo, Roberto Montenegro, Juan Soriano, Jesús Reyes Ferreira, and Luis García Guerrero, as well as other creators like Lola Álvarez Bravo, whom he portrayed (ca. 1945) taking photographs, and María Izquierdo.

Alberto Híjar described this symbolic potential in Michel's work very accurately, while also recognizing the plastic virtues of his painting. In his words: "Michel's paintings bring us closer to what makes art enduring: the ability to open a repertoire of signs, to diverse meanings, to a subjective richness that takes concrete things as a starting point to set imagination, pleasure, and life in motion."

— Daniel Garza Usabiaga