TEHRAN – The Ambassador of Mexico to Tehran Guillermo Puente Ordorica has shared a message regarding the exhibition “Eleven Artworks by Mexican Printmakers,” which is underway at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA).

The third event in the “Art & War” series at the museum explores the theme of war as seen by Mexican artists in the works found in the museum’s treasured collection, IRNA reported.

The Mexican Ambassador has expressed his appreciation and support for the initiative, providing the following statement:

“Mexican printmaking has long served as a powerful tool for artistic expression, social communication, and political reflection. This visual language, which took shape in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution, transcends its aesthetic value to become a medium for expressing collective experiences, historical memory, and the aspirations for social justice.

This exhibition offers a valuable opportunity to engage with this artistic tradition through works that reflect universal themes such as identity, resilience, and human dignity in the face of the challenges of our time.

The inclusion of this exhibition in the ‘Art & War’ series at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art is of particular importance, as it fosters dialogue between different artistic traditions regarding the impact of conflicts and crises on the human experience.

I am confident that this exhibition will contribute to strengthening cultural understanding between Mexico and Iran, allowing the general public to appreciate the richness of an artistic tradition deeply rooted in Mexico’s social history.”

The exhibition includes two valuable works by renowned Mexican artists, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco, dating back to the 1920s, depicting the struggles of the people of Mexico.

Alongside these two works, a collection of nine contemporary Mexican works is also on display, focusing on scenes of the War of Independence and the social formation of Mexican identity.

David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896 – 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest equipment, materials, and techniques. Along with Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, he was one of the most famous of the "Mexican muralists".

José Clemente Orozco (1883 – 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and others. Orozco was the most complex of the Mexican muralists, fond of the theme of human suffering, but less realistic and more fascinated by machines than Rivera. Mostly influenced by Symbolism, he was also a genre painter and lithographer.

The “Art & War” exhibition, featuring works from the treasured collection of the TMoCA, offers a unique opportunity to revisit and analyze how contemporary wars influence the formation of different art movements.

The exhibition has been planned as an artistic reaction to the 40-day American-Zionist assault on Iran (from February 28 to April 8), which martyred about 3,500 people, including the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, several officials and military commanders, as well as numerous civilians, including women and children.

During the 40-day war (also known as the Ramadan War), besides some military targets, the US and Israel launched organized attacks against civilian infrastructure, including residential homes, hospitals, refineries, power plants, schools, universities, art and cultural spaces, bookstores, museums, and ancient sites in several cities, causing total or partial damage and injuring innocent people.

The TMoCA plans to gradually make more works available to audiences, so that with each visit, they can gain deeper insight into the impact of art when confronting historical and contemporary crises.

“Eleven Artworks by Mexican Printmakers” exhibition, which was to run until May 30, has been extended for a week, and the works will remain on show until June 7 at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, located next to Laleh Park on N. Kargar Street.

SS/SAB