The 7 Top Art Destinations of 2016
Jorge Mendez Blake
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Jorge Mendez Blake works with books and the idea of books, connecting literature to the visual arts through assemblage, drawings, interventions, videos, and paintings. He has worked with libraries as a concept as well. Using texts, he seeks to extract the ideas found within them and explores the possibilities of mixing historical associations, geographical elements, and assumed concepts. He often works with well-known authors including William Shakespeare and Jorge Luis Borges to reflect upon books as symbols for the morals within. The artist has also built imposing structures out of books (referred to as “ruins”), constructed on top of or around books—including Karl Marx’s Das Capital—and often makes books himself. Through his work, literature emerges as both a glorified object and a conceptual treasure trove.
Mendez Blake has exhibited at institutions including MCA Denver, Colorado, Museo D’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Geneva, Italy, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City, Frankendael Foundation, Amsterdam, Queensland Art Gallery, Australia, The Jumex Collection, Ecatepec, Mexico, Museum of Modern Art, Paris, Bass Museum, Miami, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and many other international galleries and museums. He participated in the 13th Istanbul Biennial (2013), and 2nd …
Jorge Mendez Blake works with books and the idea of books, connecting literature to the visual arts through assemblage, drawings, interventions, videos, and paintings. He has worked with libraries as a concept as well. Using texts, he seeks to extract the ideas found within them and explores the possibilities of mixing historical associations, geographical elements, and assumed concepts. He often works with well-known authors including William Shakespeare and Jorge Luis Borges to reflect upon books as symbols for the morals within. The artist has also built imposing structures out of books (referred to as “ruins”), constructed on top of or around books—including Karl Marx’s Das Capital—and often makes books himself. Through his work, literature emerges as both a glorified object and a conceptual treasure trove.
Mendez Blake has exhibited at institutions including MCA Denver, Colorado, Museo D’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Geneva, Italy, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City, Frankendael Foundation, Amsterdam, Queensland Art Gallery, Australia, The Jumex Collection, Ecatepec, Mexico, Museum of Modern Art, Paris, Bass Museum, Miami, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and many other international galleries and museums. He participated in the 13th Istanbul Biennial (2013), and 2nd Yucatan Biennale in 2004, earning him an honorable mention. Blake won the Young Creators Prize in Mexico in 2002, 2003, and 2007, among many other awards and grants.
Born 1972
Hometown Guadalajara, Mexico
Lives and Works Guadalajara, Mexico
Education
BArch, ITESO University, Guadalajara, Mexico
Representing Galleries
Galerie OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
Meessen De Clercq, Brussels, Belgium
Travesia Cuatro, Guadalajara, Mexico/Madrid, Spain
1301PE, Los Angeles, California
Works Available for Purchase
No works
