Jorge Méndez Blake

JORGE MÉNDEZ BLAKE (Guadalajara, México, 1974. Lives and works in Guadalajara) The work of Méndez Blake explores the possible intersections between literature, visual arts and architecture, fusing different historic and geographical elements, provoking new readings on the role of language in our culture. The artist employs analysis and synthesis as tools to transform different narratives and poetics into visual compositions, attempting to shed a light on the material and immaterial aspects that are implied in the act of writing. Similarly, Méndez Blake has devoted a significant part of his work to studying libraries as relational systems in which historical and cultural dimensions of a given context converge. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions in museums such as Kunsthalle Mulhouse, France; MARFA Contemporary; the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and the Museum of Latinamerican Art, LA, USA; Museo D'Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Geneva, Italy and in Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Museo Tamayo, Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros and Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico. His work has been part of group shows at the Museé d’Art Moderne, La Maison Rouge and the Museé Mac/Val in Paris, France; the Bass Museum in Miami, the Aspen Art Museum, the Artspace in New Haven, Hessel Museum of Art in NY and the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara in the USA; at the Fundación PROA in Buenos Aires, Argentina; at the Fundación Marcelino Botin, Santander and Casa Encendida, Madrid, in Spain; at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam and Frankendael Foundation in Amsterdam, Netherlands; the Queensland Art Gallery, Australia; the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; the ASU Museum of Art, Phoenix, USA; in BOZAR, Brussels, Belgium; the Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsow, Poland. At the Fundación JUMEX, the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, the Museo Nacional de Arte, the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, in Mexico City; MARCO, Monterrey; Instituto Cultural Cabañas and Museo de Arte de Zapopan in Guadalajara and Museo Amparo in Puebla, among others. He was part in the XIII Bienal de La Habana, Cuba (2019). He has also participated in the NGV Triennal, Melbourne, Australia (2017); the 13th Istanbul Biennial (2013); SABER DESCONOCER, 43 Salón (Inter) Nacional de Artistas, Museo de Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia (2013) and was a recipient of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Grant Program, Miami, USA (2012). Currently he is a member of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores in Mexico.