AMEXICA is the result of a triple encounter. First, that of a Belgian art collector with a country full of life and its generous and courageous people; then that between this collector, Alain Servais, and the Mexican writer and curator, Marisol Rodríguez; and finally, that of the curator and the Cultural Institute of Mexico, united by the will to reveal and promote contemporary Mexican artists on the international scene.

Alain Servais first visited Mexico City over two decades ago. Over the years, he has built up an extensive sample of contemporary Mexican art that steps outside the mainstream. In his own words, "collectors in Mexico tend to stick to the same group of names, not daring to follow their own path”. Servais’ choice was to go beyond this conservatism, led by his fascination for Mexican storytelling and the strong presence of everyday life realities in its contemporary art. Today, The Servais Family Collection traces important Mexican artistic explorations that challenge preconceptions of popular culture and notions of good and bad taste, ironizing about the normalization of disturbing practices such as racism, violence, and the obscure effects of neoliberalism.

In 2019, Servais invited Marisol Rodríguez to explore the collection to bring Mexico to the forefront in an exhibition. First presented in Brussels and then adapted for Paris, AMEXICA brings together the work of thirteen artists with diverse trajectories. In the following rooms, the works of artists who have just graduated from art school rub shoulders with those of some of the country's most acclaimed contemporary artists.

AMEXICA borrows its title from an eponymous work of investigative journalism in which Ed Vulliami describes the territory that stretches from Central America to North America, passing through Mexico. Traced in 1994 with the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement, this space is defined by severe contradictions arising from the economic relations between Mexico and its northern neighbors. In AMEXICA, Marisol Rodríguez reflects on her generation's experience of dramatic national change, from the cultural and economic protectionism of the eighties to the consumerism, fast-paced capitalism, and extractivism of our globalized age. The artworks that conform this exhibition are imbued with acid humor, lucidity and boldness that offer a glimpse on a collective disturbance whose overall effects are still to be defined.

The Cultural Institute of Mexico is pleased to welcome The Servais Family Collection and its rich diversity of visions on Mexican contemporary art. We hope that this selection further incites your curiosity for emerging artistic proposals in a complex and changing socio-economic global context.