After Eden

After Eden. Art in Cuernavaca, 1974–2014 presents a panorama of the art produced in Cuernavaca for the past four decades. The starting point for this exhibition is 1974, year of the death of David Alfaro Siqueiros in Cuernavaca—a date that could be understood as the end of modern art in Mexico and also a time of transformation for the Morelos capital. The artists who have since settled in this city have lived quite differently from the golden era of the ’40s, when travelers fancied it as a tourist paradise “under the volcano,” and some artists and intellectuals selected it as a site for exile and center for political and social activities.

Since the late ’60s, Cuernavaca has expanded territorially to become an industrial engine for the country. The new factories increased the population, which in turn led to modern residential areas and the emergence of popular neighborhoods, as well as the opening of shops and services for the new metropolis. After the earthquake in Mexico City in 1985, several families moved to Cuernavaca to permanently inhabit their holiday homes. Consequently, the city has become a double scenario: one which remains as a resort with gardens, and other as commercial and industrial sectors with a strong impact on the daily life of its inhabitants.

After Eden intends to narrate the impact that the transformation of the city has had in the production of some of the visual artists who live or have lived in Cuernavaca. Their works are presented under key topics to understanding the relationship of local art with its context, such as the garden and landscape, the life in the city, and popular iconography. Therefore, these scenarios give us a perception of a place that despite its development and brusque history, it still maintains the essence described by the poet Alfonso Reyes as a “tepid city with discrete tropical air.”

The five thematic groups of this exhibition are based on the book Las aves de este día (The birds of this day) by Morelos poet Kenia Cano. Collectively, it includes artists such as: Jimmie Durham, Vicente Gandía, Javier de la Garza, Cisco Jimenez, Magali Lara, Joy Laville, Miguel Ángel Madrigal, Tonatiuh Pellitzzi, Gustavo Pérez Monzón, and Gerardo Suter, among others. After Eden includes a Correspondence section, which contains historical archives, editorial projects and independent spaces memories. For this exhibition, La Tallera has invited Andrea Torreblanca as a guest curator. For more information, check our public program at www.saps-latallera.org.

About La Tallera
La Tallera upholds as its mission the investigation and dissemination of the legacy of David Alfaro Siqueiros, as well as the care and preservation of the artworks and archives inherited to Mexico by the muralist. This project also seeks to generate a dialogue with contemporary artistic production through three key areas in Siqueiros’ thinking and practice: the public realm in artistic creation; the relationship between art and politics; and experimentation with mediums and materials. La Tallera has been adapted as a comprehensive program that includes an exhibition space, a school for art critique studies, international residencies for artists, art critics and curators, as well as a space for workshops and conferences.