Two institutions, one exhibition. Mexico: Expected/Unexpected

Two artistic epicenters in California simultaneously present Mexico Expected/Unexpected until May 25, 2011. The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) joined efforts to present this exhibition consisting of more than one hundred artworks from the Isabel and Agustin Coppel Collection. It includes works that touch on universal themes by contemporary Mexican artists like Carlos Amorales, Francis Alÿs, Iñaki Bonillas, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Pedro Reyes, Jorge Méndez-Blake, Gabriel Orozco, Melanie Smith, and Damián Ortega. The works cover a variety of points of view, and although social issues are addressed, they represent only one example of the many other themes approached within the collection. A variety of artistic mediums such as painting, sculpture, photography, and multimedia, among others, have been used to render works that reveal a new kind of contemporary Mexican art, freed from the clichés of the "Mexicanized." A more universal and international proposal is being debated in this exhibition, with works that answer to a more elaborated perception of what Mexican art is. Visitors will have trouble classifying the artworks as Latin American Art at first glance. The multiple themes visitors will be presented with as they walk through the exhibition space reinvigorate the clear notion of contemporary art as a universal form of expression that is independent from the culture adopted by the artist. Thus, the works leave behind the manufacture traditionally used to represent Mexican art, in favor of universal pieces that can be curated and criticized without having to be attached to specific nationalities.