Zúñiga x Castañeda

“Zúñiga x Castañeda” brings together two of Mexico’s most important sculptors. By exhibiting Francisco Zúñiga and Felipe Castañeda, the show highlights a common thread from teacher to student as well as the important differences. It is in these differences that the viewer can see the impact they have had on sculpture and views of the human body.

Francisco Zúñiga was born in Costa Rica and moved to Mexico in 1936 to study art. These early influences included the German Expressionists as well as fellow sculptors Aristide Maillol and Auguste Renoir. While these influences are evident in the exhibition works, Zúñiga makes his subject indigenous women of Mexico pushing our conception of modern sculpture.

Pensando is exemplary of Castañeda’s female forms in which he synthesizes the traditional and modern, pre-Colombian and European sensibilities of Mexico. Castañeda apprenticed alongside Francisco Zuniga. In works such as Mujer en Reposo and Mujer con Guitarra there are both influences of Zuniga and Castañeda’s own unique point of view into womanhood and Mexican identity.

From Zúñiga to Castañeda, there is a continuation into the exploration and synthesizing of Mexican culture, both its pre-Columbian and European roots, into three-dimensional form. In their integration, the artists forge new paths into modern and contemporary art.