Huge, fantastical creatures are making a temporary home in downtown Albuquerque this summer along Route 66 (known in Albuquerque as Central Avenue).
“Fantastic Animals from Mexico: Alebrijes and Nahuales” is a traveling exhibition that features eight sculptures, brightly painted in styles grounded in traditional Mexican design and contemporary magical realism.
“Alebrijes (are) a very specific kind of fantastical animal kind of tradition that came from the Linares family in Mexico City,” said City of Albuquerque Director of Arts and Culture Shelle Sanchez. The creatures are usually fashioned using a process similar to paper mache and the inspiration first came from Pedro Linares during a dream.
“These are very fantastical, kind of made-up creatures,” Sanchez said. “Whereas the nahuales are typically carved out of wood in Oaxaca, and they tend to be more recognizable as animals we would know. So you can see like a bunny or a dog or something, so that's the difference. But they are both brightly painted and they have that kind of Mexican folk art aesthetic.”
In this exhibition, both the alebrijes and the nahuales are made of wood. They are scattered along Central Avenue, starting at the intersection with 7th Street and continuing to the roundabout at 8th Street. They include , The LionBull and The CatBird, both by Leonardo Linares; The Dog by Adrian Xuana, and The CatNahual by Angelico Jimenez. Around Robinson Park is The Rabbit by Maria Jimenez, The Coyote by Efrain Fuentes, The Armadillo by Margarito Melchor, and The Happy Alien by Constantino Blas. The exhibition is curated by Romain Greco.
Travelers celebrating the centennial of Route 66 with a trip through the Duke City stretch of the Mother Road don’t have to worry about missing the statues’ full effect if they’re going through after dark. All of the alebrijes and nahuales will be lit up by night.
“Today we celebrate how art connects people across borders, cultures and generations,” said Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, at a May 26 welcoming ceremony held by The Rabbit, which holds, appropriately enough, a big slice of watermelon (sandia), evoking the Sandia Mountains on the city’s eastern edge.
“Albuquerque continues to invest in the arts because we know they strengthen community and our economy,” Keller said.
He was joined by Carlomagno Pedro Martínez, director of the Oaxaca State Museum of Popular Art.
“This exhibition projects these fantastic characters to a colossal dimension through beautiful creations that will be admired in various areas of the USA, focusing on great masters of the genuine art from Oaxaca,” Martínez said.
Part of the exhibition’s presence in the city includes smaller-scale sculptures that inspired the larger works, on display at City Hall. The small and the large fantastical beasts will be on display through July 17. The show then travels to Salinas, Calif., Houston, and Henderson, Nev.
Shelle Sanchez, director of the city’s Department of Arts and Culture, said the show brings color and creativity to downtown Albuquerque.
“This exhibition is rooted in imagination, storytelling, and craftsmanship,” she said. ”We are so pleased to share it in such a public way.”
