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Jorge Méndez Blake

Guadalajara, Mexico. 1974
I Remember An Exhibition

Palm Springs Art Museu, 2023.

I Remember An Exhibition

Palm Springs Art Museu, 2023.

Dear Thomas, I'm Writing from Utopia

Instantánea, Antigua Fábrica Kodak, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2020.

Dear Thomas, I'm Writing from Utopia

Instantánea, Antigua Fábrica Kodak, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2020.

Dear Thomas, I'm Writing from Utopia

Instantánea, Antigua Fábrica Kodak, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2020.

Dear Thomas, I'm Writing from Utopia

Instantánea, Antigua Fábrica Kodak, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2020.

Diez situaciones poéticas

Casa de México, Madrid, Spain, 2019.

Diez situaciones poéticas

Casa de México, Madrid, Spain, 2019.

Diez situaciones poéticas

Casa de México, Madrid, Spain, 2019.

Diez situaciones poéticas

Casa de México, Madrid, Spain, 2019.

Diez situaciones poéticas

Casa de México, Madrid, Spain, 2019.

El gran poema inexacto del siglo XX

XIII Bienal de la Habana, Cuba, 2019.

El gran poema inexacto del siglo XX

XIII Bienal de la Habana, Cuba, 2019.

El gran poema inexacto del siglo XX

XIII Bienal de la Habana, Cuba, 2019.

El gran poema inexacto del siglo XX

XIII Bienal de la Habana, Cuba, 2019.

El gran poema inexacto del siglo XX

XIII Bienal de la Habana, Cuba, 2019.

Das Kapital

Centro Cultural Gabriel García Márquez, Bogotá, Colombia, 2018.

Empty Library

Guadalajara, Mexico, 2028.

Empty Library

Guadalajara, Mexico, 2028.

Dismantled Language (Americas 1500)

Guadalajara, Mexico, 2028.

Dismantled Language (Americas 1500)

Guadalajara, Mexico, 2028.

Dismantled Language (Americas 1500)

Guadalajara, Mexico, 2028.

A Message from the Emperor

Marfa Contemporary, Texas, United States, 2017.

A Message from the Emperor

Marfa Contemporary, Texas, United States, 2017.

A Message from the Emperor

Marfa Contemporary, Texas, United States, 2017.

A Message from the Emperor

Marfa Contemporary, Texas, United States, 2017.

A Message from the Emperor

Marfa Contemporary, Texas, United States, 2017.

Projects pour une posible littérature

2015. La Kunsthalle Centre d’Art Contemporain Mulhouse, France. Curated by Sandrine Wymann.

Projects pour une posible littérature

La Kunsthalle Centre d’Art Contemporain Mulhouse, France. Curated by Sandrine Wymann, 2015.

Projects pour une posible littérature

La Kunsthalle Centre d’Art Contemporain Mulhouse, France. Curated by Sandrine Wymann, 2015.

Traslaciones topográficas de la Biblioteca Nacional

MUAC (Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo), Mexico City, Mexico. Curated by Amanda de la Garza and Alejandra Labastida, 2015.

Traslaciones topográficas de la Biblioteca Nacional

MUAC (Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo), Mexico City, Mexico. Curated by Amanda de la Garza and Alejandra Labastida, 2015.

Traslaciones topográficas de la Biblioteca Nacional

MUAC (Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo), Mexico City, Mexico. Curated by Amanda de la Garza and Alejandra Labastida, 2015.

Traslaciones topográficas de la Biblioteca Nacional

MUAC (Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo), Mexico City, Mexico. Curated by Amanda de la Garza and Alejandra Labastida, 2015.

Project for a Park Library

MCA Denver, United States. Curated by Nora Abrams, 2014.

Project for a Park Library

MCA Denver, United States. Curated by Nora Abrams, 2014.

Project for a Park Library

MCA Denver, United States. Curated by Nora Abrams, 2014.

All the Calvino Books (and Other Stories)

Museo D’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Genoa, Italy. Curated by Anna Lovecchio, 2012.

All the Calvino Books (and Other Stories)

Museo D’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Genoa, Italy. Curated by Anna Lovecchio, 2012.

All the Calvino Books (and Other Stories)

Museo D’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Genoa, Italy. Curated by Anna Lovecchio, 2012.

La marquesa salió a las cinco... Jorge Méndez Blake

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico, 2010.

La marquesa salió a las cinco... Jorge Méndez Blake

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico, 2010.

La marquesa salió a las cinco... Jorge Méndez Blake

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico, 2010.

La marquesa salió a las cinco... Jorge Méndez Blake

Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico, 2010.

Todos los libros de poesía (All the Poetry Books)

Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, United States, 2010.

Todos los libros de poesía (All the Poetry Books)

Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, United States, 2010.

Todos los libros de poesía (All the Poetry Books)

Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, United States, 2010.

Todos los libros de poesía (All the Poetry Books)

Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, United States, 2010.

El Castillo, 2007

‘Excepciones Normales: arte contemporáneo en México’, temporary exhibition Museo Jumex, 2021.

El Castillo, 2007

‘Excepciones Normales: arte contemporáneo en México’, temporary exhibition Museo Jumex, 2021.

The 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 at Palm Springs Art Museum, US; MARFA Contemporary, Texas, US; Casa de México, Madrid, Spain; Kunsthalle Mulhouse, France; Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Colorado, US; Museum of Latin-American Art, Los Angeles, US; Museo D’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Geneva, Italy; MUAC-UNAM, Museo Tamayo, Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros and Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico.

Upcoming projects include a solo exhibition at Museo Cabañas (2023) and at MARCO de Monterrey (2024), Mexico.

His work has been part of group shows at Bass Museum in Miami, US; Centro Federico García Lorca, Granada, Spain, Fundación Botín, Santander, Spain; La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain; Musée d’Art Moderne, La Maison Rouge and the Musée Mac/Val in Paris, France; ASU Museum of Art, Phoenix, US; Aspen Art Museum, US; Artspace in New Haven, US; Hessel Museum of Art, New York, US; Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, California, US; Fundación PROA, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Stedelijk Museum and Frankendael Foundation in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Queensland Art Gallery, Australia; BOZAR, Brussels, Belgium; Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland. In Mexico: Fundación JUMEX; Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil; Museo Nacional de Arte; Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes; MARCO de Monterrey; Museo Cabañas; Museo de Arte de Zapopan and Museo Amparo de Puebla.

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, National Gallery of Victoria, 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 (2012). Currently he is a member of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores in Mexico.

His work is part of the following collections: Fundación Botín, Spain; National Gallery of Victoria, Australia; PAMM Perez Art Museum Miami, US; Philara Collection, Dusseldorf, Germany; Colección Jumex, Mexico; Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo MUAC, Mexico; Fundación Calosa, Mexico; Colección Televisa, Mexico; Colección Coppel, Sinaloa, Mexico; Colección Suro, Guadalajara, Mexico; Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico; r/e Collection 21C Museum, Kentucky, US; Queensland Art Gallery, Australia Deutsche Bank Collection Sayago & Pardon Collection, US.

He lives and works in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Desmantelando a Villaurrutia (Nostalgia de la muerte. Nocturno)

2017. Acrylic on linen. 152.3 x 122 cm

Detalle Desmantelando a Villaurrutia
All Beckett's Endings II

2015.
Archival print on cotton paper.
444 x 81 cm.

Telón III / Curtain III

2016.
Coloured pencil on paper.
120×150 cm.

Mending Wall (Robert Frost)

2015.
Metal, wood, methacrylate, glass.
300x120x100 cm.

Black pavilion / Open Library

2013. Mixed Media. Variable dimensions

A Constellation I, II, III,

2011.
Wood, Books.
100x70x20 cm.

Selected Poems

2014.
Neon.
7×85 cm.

Marxxx

2009.
Neon.
20×65 cm.

Library on a Balcony

2009.
Methacrylate, wood and metal.
91x35x35 cm.

From an Unfinished Work (The Mysterious Stranger)

2014. Aluminium, enamel, serography, lacquer. 8 x 8 x 8 cm

From an Unfinished Work (The Mysterious Stranger)

2014. Aluminium, enamel, serograph, lacquer. 8 x 8 x 8 cm