As it has become more international in scope, Zona Maco has developed something of a split personality during its long run. Some 21 years since it was founded, however, the Mexico City art fair still serves its primary function well: to showcase the top galleries of its home city.
These galleries come back regularly, just as they are present for the 2025 edition, which opened its VIP day on Wednesday at the Centro Citibanamex. This year’s fair features some 200 galleries from 29 countries, and sits at the heart of a week packed with events and satellite fairs including Material and Salón Acme. At Zona Maco, these local heavyweights are mostly putting forward group exhibitions that highlight the bigger names on their rosters: Zona Maco is always a welcome reminder—or an education for newcomers—of which galleries have dominated the city’s art scene for the past two decades.
One of these stalwarts, Proyectos Monclova, is front and center with works by many of its most renowned artists, including Yoshua Okón and Alejandra Venegas. The gallery reached back into Mexican art history, too, with geometric “paintings” made with wool by the legendary graphic designer Eduardo Terrazas, while simultaneously looking toward the future with a series of motorized bird sculptures by ultra-contemporary artist Josué Mejía.
Nearby, fellow stalwart kurimanzutto is featuring works by the likes of Gabriel Kuri, Abraham Cruzvillega, and Minerva Cuevas. The gallery was enjoying a good opening day run, according to its partner and sales director Malik Al-Mahrouky. He noted during the VIP day that the gallery had already finalized the sale of multiple paintings by Roberto Gil de Montes, with smaller pieces selling for $15,000 and larger works fetching three times as much. Down the aisle of the massive convention center, meanwhile, OMR—another leading local name—is showcasing highlights that include prints by Jose Dávila, moody paintings from Angel Cammen, and a life-size saguaro cactus fashioned from white marble by Guadalajara-based Gabriel Rico.
Purple Dahlia, 2015
Beatriz Milhazes
Pace Gallery
At the same time, the other half of Zona Maco’s personality—the growing number of international galleries that have joined its lineups over time—was keeping things interesting. About half of the 127 exhibitors in the fair’s contemporary art section are from other countries.
They include regulars, like Pace Gallery, which is showcasing two oversized paintings custom-made for the fair by superstar artist Julian Schnabel. The artist combined paint with shards of broken pottery to create portraits of Frida Kahlo, which were receiving a lot of attention from VIPs in attendance. By foregrounding the representation of such an internationally famous figure, the gallery is playing to both locals and foreign buyers—mostly from the U.S.—many of whom were combining their vacation with a bit of art shopping. The gallery understands the Zona Maco market well. “This is one of the biggest fairs we do every year,” said Pace’s CEO Marc Glimcher.
Many international galleries—particularly those with Mexican collectors—were reporting solid sales across the fair. New York–based Mark Straus, for instance, which has worked hard to build a local collector base, sold a major work within the opening hours of the fair: a realist painting of a folded-up rug by Spanish artist Antonio Santín, for $170,000.
Echo Chamber, 2023
Antonio Santín
Marc Straus
The gallery has had a booth at Zona Maco since it started, missing only one year. Owner Marc Straus has watched the fair grow, and returns because, he said, the event is distinct from large art fairs in other global capitals. “It’s more ‘Mexico,’” he said. “There are many fewer galleries from the U.S., which is great.”
Things appeared to be going well, if at a slower pace, for first-time exhibitors, but many were showing some of the most interesting work at the fair. The Italian gallery Lis10 was making its debut at Zona Maco with a solo show by Ivorian photographer Laetitia Ky, whose works feature images of herself with elaborate, history-referencing hairstyles. Both the photos and the bright pink walls of the gallery’s booth were receiving a lot of visitor attention.
Be sexy and shut up, 2023
Laetitia Ky
LIS10 Gallery
Fighter, 2023
Laetitia Ky
LIS10 Gallery
Zona Maco made a special effort this year to showcase artists from the Global South, and it was these first-time exhibitors who made the most of the opportunity. New York–based Palo Gallery had a standout booth centered around the Liberian artist Lewinale Havette, whose work takes on themes of migration and spirituality. Entering the booth, there was a real sense of discovering new talent.
It was the same with Hexton Gallery, which is based in Aspen and featured on its main wall paintings by Marcos Acosta, who is originally from Argentina. The artist paints monochromatic, mountainous landscapes and overlays them with sharp streaks of brilliant yellows, reds, and golds. They are striking and, apparently, very popular. With the help of pre-sales, the gallery was able to count three works purchased by the middle of the fair’s VIP day.
Wildness, 2024
Marcos Acosta
Hexton Gallery
Passing, 2024
Rachel Garrard
Hexton Gallery
The large crowds and the abundance of refreshments being poured from carts set up across the fair concourse kept the mood optimistic throughout Wednesday. There were the familiar complaints that always surround Zona Maco: bad internet on the floor, longer-than-expected lines, and the traffic that makes traveling in and out of the convention center difficult, as well as horror stories about getting work through Mexican customs. Denver gallery K Contemporary was among those affected by the latter: The gallery did not get its shipment until 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night and had to work quickly to set up its solo show of artist Marielle Plaisir. Fortunately, the booth looked sharp by the VIP day, even if some of the art still had not arrived.
Perhaps the most marked factor across the fair, however, was the collective sigh of relief over the postponement of tariffs on Mexican goods coming into the United States: President Donald Trump had announced 25% tariffs on all Mexican imports and then paused them just hours before the fair opened its doors.
The result was a situation that no one at Zona Maco was exactly sure how to deal with. But, reflecting the mood across the fair, even that got a good spin. Ken Hashimoto, owner of Hashimoto Contemporary, told interested collectors who stopped in his booth that the postponement was an incentive to close a deal. “You could buy from me now, or in six months,” he told them. “But you might have to pay a 25% tariff on it.”
from Artsy News https://ift.tt/MJAFwEX
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