Teresa Díaz, a museumologist and art historian, will delight us with a very entertaining and enlightening presentation about art in Mexico with the focus on abstract art. Find out what is referred to when talking about “abstract art,” where it came from, who were the key players and how it evolved in Mexican art culture.

Picasso, a leading role in abstraction, together with Modigliani and Brancusi took inspiration from an African mask exhibition in the Musée d’Ethnographie in 1907 Paris and created a unique way of breaking the human body into planes, lines and shapes transcending the way we look at the human body. By playing with reversing concave and convex lines in a face or figure and flattening the illusion of a mass or space in their paintings, these artists invented a new language: abstract art. We will delve into how the art from different parts of the world transformed how we value non-figural artwork, and which Mexican artists used this new language to explore abstraction in their signature works.

BIO: Teresa Diaz is a museumologist (expert in museum studies) with 27 years of experience working with museums, galleries, artists, collectors and other non-profit organizations in the United States and is now the owner of Red Dot Art Gallery in Oaxaca. Her heart has always been in education through the arts, history and science, especially with youth from disadvantaged communities in the United States. Since arriving in Oaxaca 6 years ago, Teresa has dedicated her time to give greater access to art and to help "build community.” At the same time, Teresa has sought collaboration with local artists whom she felt were working in a unique creative genre and with non-profit organizations such as the Oaxaca Learning Center and the Oaxaca Lending Library. Now, she has realized her dream of opening her own gallery, (Red Dot Gallery), and serving as a resource for experimental, contemporary and non-traditional artists, art students and beginning collectors. Teresa’s mission for the Red Dot Gallery is to open new avenues for creative output in Oaxaca by organizing and developing programs that address contemporary themes of importance in the arts and culture. She also hopes that youth can be inspired by participating in these programs and follow artistic directions in their career and life. At the same time that she is promoting the work of the artists whom she works with, she is working with musicians, performers, poets, writers, dancers and theater creators. Teresa invites you to participate in the events she hosts and incite a good conversation.