The exhibition 'Diverse animal body' is ready at the National Museum of Prints

Human nature and the analogy that exists between man and animal is one of the lines that the exhibition explores. diverse animal bodyby the visual artist Patricia Soriano (CDMX, 1964), which will open tomorrow to the public at the National Print Museum (Munae).

This is a retrospective review that covers nearly 40 years of his production, made up of 83 pieces, some of the pieces are folders that pay tribute to authors such as Leopoldo Méndez and José Guadalupe Posada.

You can see different stages of my production that encompasses not only drawing, but also metal and wood engraving, as well as black and white lithographs and some color pieces,” Soriano, who is an academic at the Faculty of Arts, commented in an interview. from UNAM.

Regarding the thematic content, he explained that in his work he addresses the analogy that exists between man and animal, a theme that has been recurring throughout cultures, such as in Mesoamerican and medieval, as in the fantastic bestiaries made by writers such as Jorge Luis Borges and Franz Kafka.

I not only address the similarity between animals and human beings, but through my narratives I intend to create ideal places or places parallel to the coexistence of human beings and animals to recreate fantasy scenes, mythologies, and in some I appropriate themes. addressed by Posada himself or by Francisco de Goya, James Ensor, José Luis Cuevas and Gustavo Monroy,” he explained.

Although it also exhibits pieces that talk about violence. “It is an exhibition that also talks about the mutilated body, as a nature of maladjustment to the environment, that is, the mutilation of a headless body or a severed head, as a quote from the history of art.

On the other hand, there is also the theme of gender violence, deaths, drug trafficking and each of the parts that make up this exhibition is accompanied by some key pieces by authors who come from private museum collections - by Leopoldo Méndez, Gilberto Aceves Navarro, José Luis Cuevas, Otto Dix, Gustavo Monroy and Posada – which serve to guide the viewer so that they can amalgamate a way of understanding the contents addressed in this exhibition.”

Regarding his relationship with the fantastic world, he highlighted that his references are linked to the pre-Hispanic world. “In the pre-Columbian world, man worshiped the elements of nature as well as the types of animals to represent, such as the head of the eagle, the snake or the xoloitzcuintle. But there is also the medieval period, with fantastic fauna full of chimeras, monsters and integrations of elements with nature and animals.”

In short, he explained, “they are information that I assimilate, rethink and modify to adapt them to my communication intentions,” but that I sublimate through drawing and print, giving the work a seduction of immediacy that feeds the public with disturbing contents. .

Finally, Patricia Soriano explained that her production not only includes engraving and drawing, but also painting. However, “engraving allows me not only to have the privilege of reproducing an image, but to prioritize the fidelity of the drawing that makes possible the fidelity of the line, of the chiaroscuro, of your imagination and of the poetic material that you can pour into it.

The engraving in metal, wood, stone and sheet allows me to give the drawing that univocal value that it has not as a preparatory stage for a painting, but rather the authenticity of a drawing that is reproduced and postponed for consumption at a serial level. ”.

Under the curatorship of Jorge Reynoso Pohlenz diverse animal body exhibits the techniques used by Soriano, from etchings and aquatints, to drypoint, woodcut and lithography, as well as drawings on alternative media and large formats in which the artist used the technique of charcoal, ink and chalk on canvas and wood.

For his part, Emilio Payán, director of Munae, assured that Patricia Soriano's work in the print enriches the history of graphic art in our country.

The exhibition "Diverse animal body. Patricia Soriano" is made up of just over 80 works, mainly graphics made in a variety of techniques using metal plates, wood and linoleum. pic.twitter.com/05K5spsJMW

— MUNAE (@MUNAEMexico) October 18, 2023

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