Estación Material Vol. 5: Beatrice Arraes, Tomás Díaz Cedeño, Mariana Paniagua Cortés, Vica Pacheco, Julia Rometti, Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Armando Salas Portugal
The presentation brings together works by Beatrice Arraes, Tomás Díaz Cedeño, Mariana Paniagua Cortés, Vica Pacheco, Julia Rometti, Naomi Rincón Gallardo, and Armando Salas Portugal: artists whose practices explore the relationships between landscape, architecture, materiality, and forms of life.The proposal stems from an expanded notion of landscape, understood as a space where natural phenomena, human constructions, collective imaginaries, and processes of transformation converge.
In the paintings of Mariana Paniagua Cortés and the mural by Tomás Díaz Cedeño, vegetation and geography become tools for reflecting on our relationship with the environment. Beatrice Arraes, by contrast, explores volcanic ecosystems and geological processes, translating forms derived from the landscape into painting, which thereby maintains a close connection to the natural world. The sculptures of Vica Pacheco, meanwhile, introduce an organic dimension to this conversation: her forms evoke seeds, roots, and bodies in transformation, inviting us to understand the world as a living system in constant flux. The watercolors by Naomi Rincón Gallardo, from the series Resiliencia Tlacuache, add a mythical and animal dimension to the presentation. The tlacuache, a recurring figure in her work, becomes a symbol of adaptation and survival in the face of environmental transformation.
From a different perspective, Armando Salas Portugal approaches landscape through its relationship with the built environment and architecture. His photographs introduce a historical dimension to this reflection: through images of the Mexican landscape and landmark works of modern architecture, they document the ways in which nature, urbanization, and construction transform one another, establishing a dialogue between different temporalities and connecting historical processes with contemporary concerns.
Taken together, the selection brings together artists who explore different ways of thinking about the contemporary landscape through photography, painting, muralism, ceramics, printmaking, watercolor, and sculpture. From geology and architecture to historical memory, living organisms, and mythological forms, the presentation articulates a dialogue between different ways of imagining, inhabiting, and transforming the world.
This dialogue is not merely conceptual; it is grounded in the tangible connections that most of the artists maintain with the city of Guadalajara, an affiliation that was, in fact, a central criterion in the selection of the works. Beatrice Arraes recently completed a ceramics residency at Casa Ceniza; Mariana Paniagua Cortés presented a solo exhibition at Museo Hospicio Cabañas in 2025; Vica Pacheco undertook a residency at Suro in 2024; while Naomi Rincón Gallardo presented a solo exhibition at Plataforma in 2024 and performed at Museo Cabañas in 2025. It is within this network of residencies, exhibitions, and encounters that the presentation finds its grounding: Guadalajara is not merely a setting, but an active part of the process that shapes these works.
