By Carmen Rioja
It is refreshing, hopeful, and motivating to finally find a project like Fuga in our city. This is a collective for locally made, authentic, and original works made by young artists ranging from 20 to 27 years of age. This fantastic project originated and is housed in San Miguel de Allende—a city that has been the cradle and patron saint of the arts for a long time. Art in the city has often been associated with the Baroque and Spanish Colonial periods, as well as Eurocentric works. Fuga, on the other hand, is a contemporary collective that recently presented Safe_Space.exp and an exhibition in Guadalajara. The works of these artists range from installations to digital art, painting, sculpture, and robotic technologies. They are out of the ordinary and represent a new vision of reality; they often integrate elements that were previously alien to fine arts.
One of the most constant elements internationally since the 1990s has been a break with traditional forms and the exploration of extracanonical discourses. However, these ideas have come with eccentricity, lack of honest content, corporeality not based on reality, an insincere honesty, and a lack of creative authenticity. Conceptual art saw its beginnings with artists like Marcel Duchamps, Yoko Ono, and others. Although it may not have been the intention to move away from authenticity, nor to develop the conceptual to the detriment of the soul of things, the meaning of art was distorted. Later generations adopted an exclusively conceptual vision, neglecting the most visceral origin of art: the emotionality of things.
New technologies, such as digital art and installation, were developed. This generation returns, like the prodigal son, to the house of the creative soul and to the exercise art from the anima and animus, as the French philosopher Gastón Bachelard would point out. I still find that these artistic concepts lack a spiritual force, in spite of their great aesthetic, compositional, and discursive elements—they are still most common. That is why we celebrate with greater enthusiasm this collective of local and emerging artists in San Miguel de Allende.
They define themselves as an avant-garde artistic project and plan a series of exhibitions and cultural events. «The idea was born from the lack of spaces for young people, locals, or artists from different disciplines to exhibit work that is out of the traditional or commercial, and show a new, updated, and varied perspective that nurtures dialogue.» –the collective stands in their presentation.
These young people also promote inclusion and cultural diversity as they declare in their manifesto: “We believe that art can, and should be, approached from any medium and include young people in order to listen to all the voices of a community and thus nurture and evolve our thinking.”
It has not been easy for them to find public or cultural spaces that open their doors to the collective and which are willing to take a chance on them. They made a formal proposal for their next exhibition for February 2023, but no agreement has yet been made with any venue for the project to take place. Some of the bureaucratic obstacles they have encountered are based on institutional standards that often marginalize young people, because they do not have a portfolio of previous exhibitions or practical experience in the production of cultural events. How do you demonstrate that you are capable, responsible, and dynamic if the opportunity has not been granted?
Despite these difficulties, some of their efforts have already paid off. The first-time event, called Safe_Space.exp, brought together 14 multidisciplinary local artists, ranging from painting and sculpture, to digital works and robotics.
If you have a gallery or know someone in a cultural center, event organizers, promoters, or someone who can support them with exhibition spaces, please contact them. Especially if you are a young artist, or you know one, come to this group to join forces, and share experiences in the sublime task of the artistic creator.
The currently confirmed artists are: Ale Santos, with collage, animation, and installation; Alfredo Lozano, mapping and sound art; Aranza Sheridan, drawing, painting, sculpture; Catalina Edbrooke Donolo, animation, painting, and sculpture; Diego Avilés, comic, illustration, and narrative; Julia Irurita Roqueñi, painting and collage; Luisa María López Bridges participating with painting; Marián Roma with sculpture, installation, and drawing; Mixael Rudloff, painting and digital art; Pablo Cervantes, 3D Design, mapping; Alfredo Lozano with mapping and sound art.
Instagram:
Project: @_f_u_g_a
Ale Santos: @walesantos
Diego Aviles: @diego_tekillah
Mixael Rudloff: @mixael_rudloff
