- text
- pictures
Jorge Méndez Blake
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.

2017. Acrylic on linen. 152.3 x 122 cm


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

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

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

2013. Mixed Media. Variable dimensions

2011.
Wood, Books.
100x70x20 cm.

2014.
Neon.
7×85 cm.

2009.
Neon.
20×65 cm.

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

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

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