Updated April 9, 2024
At MID CityBeat we continue our journey to find the best of Merida and Yucatan in general. This week we have visited some fabulous galleries that we believe are worth checking out. Merida is an up and coming city with a booming art scene. Artists and art enthusiasts from Mexico and abroad are coming to Merida to work, get inspiration and collect innovative and contemporary artwork. Here is a look at twelve of the private galleries that you must visit if you are coming to Merida or if you are already here. Check below for the description, photographs and videos.
SoHo Galleries
Calle 60 x 41 & 43 Centro
Last year SoHo Galleries celebrated 10 years in business and was personally recognized by the Mayor of Merida, Renan Barrera, for its long career in contributing and supporting the arts in Merida. It is an art gallery and cultural center for the community and for artists, from both Mexico and abroad. Owner Adele Aguirre, originally from New York City, has always had a passion for art. Confessing that her home in New York looked like an art gallery, she says she is able to live the dream by having her own gallery. SoHo Galleries was opened with the goal of being a cultural hub where artists, creative people and general members of the community could meet and inspire one another. Adele and her team of directors, Yesenia Lope, and Aron Echeveria, have definitely made that happen – and then some.
Over these past 10 years, SoHo Galleries has evolved, and grown by continuing to promote artistic inspiration and innovation. Aguirre is drawn to new artists and likes to take a chance on young cutting-edge new talent, while at the same time exhibiting well-known artists. The idea is to bring to Merida national and international artists whose art is able to evoke profound emotions in those who enter the gallery doors. This is the essence of art and the purpose of artistic expression that hopefully the viewer and buyer will experience at SoHo. SoHo actively hosts events and openings nearly every month. Be sure to continue following MID CityBeat for more information as well as SoHo Galleries Facebook or Instagram.
https://www.sohogalleriesmx.com/
Open Hours:
Monday to Friday 10am-5pm
Saturday 10am-2pm
Centro Cultural La Cúpula
Calle 54 x 41 & 43 Centro
Centro Cultural La Cúpula opened its doors in December 2015 and is located in the heart of Centro close to Paseo de Montejo. It is housed in a beautiful and monumental historic building. This art center is very active in the community, having events nearly every week. La Cupula promotes not only plastic arts, but the dramatic arts, music, dance, literature, and film. Promoting artists from around the world, it is also a residence for visiting artists. Here you can find art exhibits that push the envelope of high culture and innovative ideas.
La Cupula has been recognized as a center for the arts that contribute to the betterment of Yucatan by the Secretary of Arts and Culture of Yucatan. The center has collaborated with many recognized organizations that promote art such as the International Festival of Lights in Mexico, The Tomoko Mukaiyama Foundation in the Netherlands, and the Japanese Foundation in Mexico, among others.
It boasts seven exposition halls, a video hall, a large outdoor garden space, and a workshop. where artists have created murals and installations as well as drawings, paintings, and sculptures. The Cupula is a space where you will meet fascinating people, interested in sharing their love for the arts. It brings together some of the great intellectuals, art enthusiasts and artists of the area and is a space where one can socialize and be intellectually inspired. For more information on upcoming events, you can visit their Facebook page or continue following us at MID CityBeat as we will be posting about their events as well.
Open Hours
Monday-Thursday 3pm-8pm
Friday 3pm-7pm
Galeria Urbana Merida
Paseo 60 2nd Floor Centro
Galeria Urbana Blanquis gallery opened its doors in May of 2019 and is located on the second floor of Paseo 60. It’s hard to see how to get up there but taking the elevator by Crabster restaurant is the easiest way. It’s an incredible gallery featuring mostly renowned Mexican artists.
The original gallery is in Mexico City and is a family business that started 45 years ago as a specialty framing store. It grew into one of the most cutting-edge and well-known galleries in Mexico City.
Having grown up in the world of art and the owners have a wealth of knowledge about Mexican art and are expert framing craftsmen. They give a specialized service to all their clients which include making home visits to take measurements, offering various pieces of the artwork according to the particular space and custom framing. It’s a concierge service for art.
This is a trusted gallery in Mexico City and they hope to bring that same quality to Merida. They pride themselves on having three generations of clients and were even at one point entrusted with a Frida Kahlo painting to frame. That was a great joy and highlight!
The artists on exhibit here in the Merida gallery are:
Jorge Marín (sculpturist), Pedro Friedeberg, Rafael Coronel, Neón, Fernando Andriacci, Ana Santos, Armando Romero, Leonora Carrington, and Jazzamoart among others. Absolutely worth checking out!
You can make appointments at:
999 366 5135
La Sala Art Gallery
Calle 60 45 & 42 Centro
La Sala Art Gallery just opened in a new location on Calle 60 and they have a great space to feature their invited artists. It is a small gallery run by Laura Garcia, wife of well-known Spanish artist Alfredo Romero Campos. In her gallery, Laura finds cutting edge artists that are pushing the envelope. She features the works of Mexican and international artists and wants to bring new and innovative exhibitions to Merida. Among visiting artists, they also have the works of Alfredo Romero Campos’ whose series “Vestigios de Nuestros Tiempos” has been highly successful in Mexico and abroad.
Recently she had the works of Sharon Kopriva an American painter and sculptor who lives and works in Houston, Texas, and Hope, Idaho. “Best known for her sculptures of human figures (often in mummified form) and animals. Kopriva’s paintings have been shaped by the mountain forests of Idaho, where she spends her summers.” Laura plans on bringing in new exhibitions monthly.
If in the area, I definitely recommend stopping by and taking a look at what is happening on the art scene at La Sala.
Open Hours
Monday to Saturday
10am-2pm
Galeria Casa Colon
12 kilometers Carretera Progreso
Galeria Casa Colon is located on the Periferico on your way to Progreso and just re-opened on Feb 11th in this new location. Owner Carlos Jorge Macari is an accomplished painter and has been an avid art collector for many years. He first opened GCC on Avenida Colon in Garcia Gineres in 1995, then they moved out to the north end of town to Xcanatun. Now in their newest location, you will find a fabulous new space designed specifically to be a gallery. It is in a large pink building with a yellow giraffe sculpture by Mexican artist Carmen Arvizu in the front.
From the very beginning, Macari’s vision was always to promote the arts and collecting in Yucatan. He has a great eye for art and many of the emerging artists he exhibited in 1995 are now well-known and successful artists such as Armando Romero, Francisco Castro Leñero, and Magali Lara just to name a few. Currently, in GCC they feature over 28 artists from around the world from countries including Mexico, US, Japan, and Australia among others. Their collection features cutting-edge contemporary artists, giving the art enthusiasts access to world-class pieces by acclaimed artists from around the world such as Tomoko Nagali, Kevin Sloan, Melissa Loop, Miroco Machiko and more. Many of the featured artists have been part of important public and private collections. The art collector will find a wide variety of art for any space. Definitely worth a visit.
Open Hours:
Monday to Saturday 10am-6pm
Lux Perpetua Art Centre
Calle 20 num. 87E x 15 Col. Itzimná
In 2015 Lux Perpetua Art Centre opened to the public in a lovely art deco building in Itzimná just a few blocks from the famous 16th-century church Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Perpetuo Socorro. It was opened by young entrepreneurs whose goal was to encourage the creative art economy and promote the arts by focusing on local, national and international artists. At Lux Perpetua, they focus on gallery exhibitions, a lithography workshop and a program for art residents. Here they have rapidly created a reputation for exhibiting some of the most innovative art in the city.
They exhibit various types of plastic arts such as painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, and lithography. They currently are featuring the work of Mauricio Cervantes from Oaxaca now living in Merida. It is an impressive display of painting, mosaics and tile work. A part of the exhibition is an intriguing series called “Ablutions and Baths” where he explores how various cultures view menstrual cycles. You see images of different languages including Sanskrit, Arabic, and Latin and well as the silhouettes of women in red tile. Some looked ashamed, others hiding and others in their power.
Lux Perpetua is absolutely recommended to check out on your gallery tour of Merida, it’s a beautiful space with a clear vision of advancing the contemporary art scene in Merida.
Open Hours:
Monday to Saturday
10am-2pm and 4pm-7pm
