The creative work of seven Mexican designers is the focus of a free gallery show at the Consulate General of Mexico in San Francisco. An opening Night reception on Thursday, February 7th will launch the exhibition’s public viewing from February 8 to March 3.

Different works and styles share a common concept - the spicy flavor of an identity represented by the figure of el chile. The show is a unique opportunity to experience the talent of a new generation of Mexican designers, such as:

BERNARDO NUÑEZ
“I’m not an artist. I like to play with my thoughts thinking about how to make someones’s experience enjoyable. With my designs, drawings, videos, sculptures, prototypes or anything I make, I try to make the viewer find something useful, playful and that they can relate with it some way.”

Born in Puebla, México in 1984, Nunez moved to Mexico City to study industrial design. An international project at Stanford University brought him to the San Francisco Bay Area where he worked as an industrial designer. Part of the coming show is a set of 40 portraits Nunez calls ‘Pepper Faces’. The photos were taken of people in San Francisco after eating a delicious but spicy homemade hot sauce.

ALEJANDRA ANTON is a designer who playfully mixes ideas and concepts. Her Al chile project consists of a series of spinning tops, shaped as chilli peppers. “The spin top is a toy that can be spun on an axis, balancing on a point. On each of its sides it has different scripts, so, when it stops spinning, one of the faces stays up showing the message. In this version we will do a variation, making the spin top looking as a chilli pepper to
be used to take decisions "al chile", phrase that in Mexican slang means carelessly, randomly.”

ALMA LOZANO
“My work focuses on the contrast between abstraction and reality. Organic and inorganic elements are combined in this work with the purpose of creating contrast between the natural element, the pepper, with the commercial object, the bottle. The organic shape of peppers against empty bottles are repeated in order to highlight the importance of the raw material as part of the final product.”

 

DIANA OTERO
“Mexican culture is full of creativity, folklore, philosophy and knowledge. Ancient civilizations like Aztecs where fully aware of the environment around them and had knowledge of the stars, but like any other human being they felt the need to fill unanswered questions by creating great elaborated stories and legends about gods and unique and beautifully supernatural creatures.

PAULINA SUAREZ
“The subject matter I represent in my artwork is primarily based off nature, cultures and peculiar creatures. It is a pure recollection of all the things I’ve seen and experienced filtered through the lens of a fantastic universe.

I focus on wildlife and plants with a childlike approach. The objective of the illustrations I paint is to create a bridge between nature, cultures, dreams, and friendship. I am always seeking more knowledge to build up an artistic vocabulary that will result in the creation of social, activist and didactic art with a unique color vocabulary and endless imagination to appeal kids and adults.”

More information about the gallery show can be found at www.mexicoinsf.com.