The Jose Luis Cuevas Museum celebrates 30 years of existence, however, the visible deterioration of the rooms, the marks of water seepage, peeling ceilings and even a scratched showcase make that it is inevitable to talk about the difficult economic situation that he is going through.
Before and after the concert piano by Hermann Esquivel, museum authorities dedicated parts of their commemorative speeches to talk about the economic crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic, how the family’s complicated relationship Cuevas affects the enclosure and thank the workers.
Salvador Vázquez Araujo, legal representative of the Fundación Maestro José Luis Cuevas Novelo AC, in his speech made special mention of the workers of the José Luis Cuevas Museum because “they are working daily in difficult work situations”. Araujo named each employee along with their years of seniority on the premises, there are workers who are there since the museum opened. It also invited reflection on the legacy of José Luis Cuevas.
Jorge Gamboa de Buen, president of the Foundation, reviewed the history of the museum and highlighted that in 30 years of history They have made 350 exhibitions. However, in addition to the celebration, he acknowledged that the venue has experienced two difficult years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time the museum closed its doors, running out of their self-generated resources, one of their forms of financing, since they also receives resources from INBAL and the Ministry of Culture of Mexico City.
In addition, Gamboa de Buen made it clear that the complicated relationship between the Cuevas family has had repercussions on the management of the museum:
“The last few years, however, have been difficult. The early death of Bertha Cuevas and the subsequent marriage of José Luis, destabilized the family with adverse effects for the museum. It is difficult for the families of the grantees to understand that a gift to the nation means to transfer the property of the donor and that the participation of the family it can only be through official channels.”
Given the situation, the president of the Foundation informed that in recent months it has worked with the authorities that finance it to “reconfigure the institutional structure and give Cuevas’ legacy a long life.”
For its part, Mariana Munguía, Coordinator of Visual Arts at INBAL, ensured that the Institute “He has kept his responsibility” Y “accompanied the activities of the Foundation in favor of this museum”.
The anniversary exhibition of the José Luis Cuevas Museum
“XXX Anniversary” is the commemorative exhibition of the Jose Luis Cuevas Museum, that matches with the fifth death anniversary of the artist. The exhibition shows a large number of self-portraits, as well as drawings from her erotic diaries and metal sculptures.
The sample is from the museum’s collection, made up not only of works by Cuevas, but also of his “fellow travelers”, that is, Mexican artists, Latin American and Iberian from the second half of the 20th century.
On the upper floor you can see works by Vicente RojoPedro Friedeberg, Arnaldo Coen, Wilfredo Lam, Nahum B. Zenil, Rafael Cauduro, Mathias Goeritz, Gilberto Aceves Navarro, among others.
The José Luis Cuevas Museum collection has 1,859 works.