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Jorge Méndez Blake
he work of Méndez Blake explores the possible intersections between literature, visual arts and architecture, fusing different historic and geographical elements, provoking new readings on the role of language in our culture. The artist employs analysis and synthesis as tools to transform the narrative and the poetic into visual compositions, attempting to shed a light on the material aspects that are implied in the act of writing. Similarly, Méndez Blake has devoted a significant part of his work to studying libraries as relational systems in which historical and cultural dimensions of a given context converge.
His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions in museums such as Palm Springs Art Museum, US; Marfa Contemporary; the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and the Museum of Latin-American Art, Los Angeles, all in the United States; Casa de México in Spain; Kunsthalle Mulhouse, France; Museo D’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Geneva, Italy and MUAC Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, Museo Tamayo, Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros and Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico.
He’s currently presenting a new solo exhibition at the MARCO museum in Monterrey.
His work has been part of group shows at the Musée d’Art Moderne, La Maison Rouge, and the Musée Mac/Val in Paris, France; Ballroom Marfa, the Bass Museum in Miami, Oklahoma Contemporary, the Aspen Art Museum, the Artspace in New Haven, Hessel Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara and ASU Museum of Art, Phoenix in the United States; at Fundación PROA in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander and La Casa Encendida, Madrid, in Spain; at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam and Frankendael Foundation in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Queensland Art Gallery, Australia; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; BOZAR, Brussels, Belgium; the Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland. In Mexico, he has shown his work at Museo Jumex, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, MUNAL, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, in Mexico City; Museo Cabañas and Museo de Arte de Zapopan in Guadalajara and Museo Amparo in Puebla, among others.
He has also participated in the XIII Biennale of La Habana, Cuba, with a project at the Biblioteca Nacional José Martí (2019); the Rashid Karami International Fair, Tripoli, Lebanon (2018); the NGV Triennale, Melbourne, Australia (2017); the 13th Istanbul Biennial (2013); SABER DESCONOCER, 43 Salón (Inter) Nacional de Artistas, Museo de Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia (2013) and was a recipient of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Grant Program Miami, United States (2012). He is a member of Sistema Nacional de Creadores in Mexico.
His work is part of the permanent collections at National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; Pérez Collection, Miami, United States; Museo Amparo, Mexico; Fundación Botín, Spain; Deutsche Bank Collection, Germany; Queensland Art Gallery, Australia; Philara Collection, Dusseldorf, Germany; Fundación/Colección Jumex, Mexico; Colección del pueblo de Jalisco; Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo MUAC, Mexico.
He lives and works in Guadalajara, Mexico.