ΜΕΞΙΚΟ 1810 - 2010. ΧΟΥΛΙΟ ΓΚΑΛΑΝ

Julio Galán (December 5, 1958 – August 4, 2006) was a Mexican artist and architect.
Galán was one of Latin America's most renowned neo-expressionist painters of the end of the last century and the beginning of this one. His paintings and collages are full of elements that usually represent his life.
Galán started his career as a painter in the city of Monterrey, Mexico. In 1981 he won the first prize in the "Salon anual de la Plástica" at the 'Palacio de Bellas Artes' in Mexico City.
He was first brought to international attention by Andy Warhol, who printed several of Galán's works in his magazine, Interview, shortly after Galán moved to New York City in 1984. After that he started to exhibit in New York, Mexico and Europe. In 1994 he won the "Premio Marco" from the 'Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey'; in the same year he had exhibits at the Center for Fine Arts in Miami, Florida, the Museo de Arte Moderno in México City and at the Contemporary Art Museum of Houston, Texas.
He died on the plane that was taking him back to Monterrey in 2006, after suffering a brain hemorrhage (en.wikipedia.org)

He painted himself semi-naked, as a young boy, as a witchdoctor, or with Aztec headdresses, adding a Baroque kitsch tone that has become his trademark. This style is melodramatic and might be called high camp. Galán shares with many Mexican artists an obsession with self-portraits, ambivalence, and doubling. His personal symbolism, which mixes religious elements with cinematic ones, is frequently cryptic, much like that of Kahlo. He is known especially for his critiques of the social construction of gender in such works as Donde ya no hay sexo (1985), which depicts the artist as having an ambiguous sexuality, and Niños con muchos huevos (1988), which shows two boys kissing. (glbtq.com)


"Mi obra es un psicoanálisis, refleja mi interior, es como un eco del pasado en mi memoria. También revela mis pensamientos secretos, mis deseos, mis miedos, el dolor y la muerte. El medio de la pintura me dio todas las posibilidades para explorar mi propia identidad, de seguir el anhelo existencial de reencontrarme conmigo mismo" (Julio Galán)