February 4, 2016
Mexico City was stamped as the number one place to visit in 2016. And based on the throngs of smiling collectors who spilled into ZONA MACO on Wednesday morning and equally ecstatic gallerists gushing, “this is my favorite fair”—it appears the art world would agree. For the fair’s 13th edition, 123 galleries from 25 countries are spread across a single floor of the Centro Banamex. And though the fair is among Latin America’s most international, the presence of local galleries—and challenging work by Mexican artists—was undeniably strong. Here are the 10 booths, with galleries hailing from Los Angeles to Guadalajara to Mexico City itself that make a trip to the DF well worth it.
Those who love Rudolf’s Stingel’s ornamental rugs (installed memorably at the Palazzo Grassi during the 2013 Venice Biennale)—or the prayer rugs that the artist spread wall-to-wall at Karma Gallery last fall—shouldn’t pass up the gallery’s ZONA MACO booth. Especially because, with a closer look, they’ll find the oil stick and ballpoint pen drawings of Walter Price, a Macon, Georgia-born, Brooklyn-based artist in his late twenties who is new to the gallery. “He went to the Navy when he finished high school as a way to get to art school,” says the gallery’s Sinisa Mackovic. Because of this, he adds, “the work is often loaded with personal anecdotes, whether from the Navy or odd jobs, like a tattoo artist apprentice or a Navy firefighter.” The drawings, somewhat sinister, depict vignettes ranging from a couple of orgies to the hats of Hasidic Jews, the latter recalling his time spent living in South Williamsburg.
