Magali Lara facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Magali Lara
Born	November 5, 1956  Mexico City
Occupation	Artist, visual artist, printmaker
Awards	medal

Magali Lara (born November 5, 1956, in Mexico City) is a well-known Mexican artist. Her art is displayed in many important places. These include the Mexican Art Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. She is seen as a key artist in the feminist art movement in Mexico.

Magali Lara creates both essays and visual art. She describes her work as a meeting point where "Text and image coexist in different ways." She sees them like "Siamese twins" that share a "vital nucleus."

About Magali Lara

Magali Lara studied Visual Arts from 1976 to 1980. She attended the National School of Plastic Arts in San Carlos. Later, in 2011, she earned a master's degree. She is now a professor at the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos. She helps manage programs for the Painting Section there. Today, she lives and works in Cuernavaca, Morelos.

Her first important art show was in 1977. It was called "Scissors" and featured ten cartoon drawings. It also included an artist book.

During the 1970s, her art began to show what it was like to be a woman in Mexico. It explored the social challenges women faced. Her work helped the growing feminist movements of that time. Lara has said her mother inspired her to become a feminist. She painted flowers because her mother and grandmother did that together. She wanted to tell stories about emotions, not just the female body.

In 1981, she helped organize the first exhibition of contemporary Mexican women artists. This show took place in "Künstlerhaus Bethanien" in Western Berlin. She has also explored Digital Art, painting, ceramics, and animation.

Her Artistic Journey

Magali Lara has created many artworks using different methods. Some of her most important solo shows include Tijeras (Scissors) in San Carlos (1977). Others are Glaciers in Austin, Texas (2010), and Titubeos (Hesitations) in the Mexican Art Gallery (2011). Her show Animations: Magali Lara was at the Amparo Museum in Puebla (2012).

Her first solo exhibition, Tijeras, had ten drawings with texts. These were like comic books. She also made an artist's book for it. She worked with the Março Group and the Non-Group in the 1970s. More recently, in 2014, she presented BATIENTE 0.5 at Casa del Lago.

Lara has also worked on group projects. One was The Age of Discrepancy: Art and Visual Culture of Mexico 1968-1997 (2007). Another was A Possible Day (2011) with Javier Torres Maldonado in Paris. She has also participated in several art biennials. These include the 5th Ibero-American Art Biennial (1986).

Since 1994, she has been part of the National System of Creators. She won the Artist's Book Award for her book Que horte en ti lo que se pertene. Her art is kept in many museums and galleries. These include the Carrillo Gil Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

In recent years, she has worked on drawing, digital art, ceramics, and animation. She is interested in how art ideas can appear in different forms. She also likes using various materials. She works on publishing projects and advises Casa del Lago. Her interest in artist books is well known. She organized several artist book shows for the United States and Brazil.

In the 1980s, she published visual poems in magazines. She then started exploring painting and engraving more personally. She continues to work with drawing, digital graphics, ceramics, and animation. She enjoys seeing how modern art ideas can be shown in different ways.

Glaciers (2010)

Magali Lara's art often shows the energy of life cycles. She believes "there is nothing older than a sense of belonging." Her digital animation Glaciers is a good example. It uses pencil drawings with blue watercolor. This artwork is an emotional landscape that will disappear, just like glaciers.

The scenes in Glaciers show parts of Argentina's Patagonia region. These landscapes also reflect moments from Lara's own life. They represent her experiences with widowhood and motherhood. They also show the loss of her father and siblings. By animating these drawings, she makes the landscape seem to move. The shapes and compositions shift and turn. Music plays along, giving rhythm to the motion.

I Don't Remember (2008)

I Don't Remember (original title No Me Acuerdo) is an animation. It uses photographs Magali Lara took of herself while drawing. This work was inspired by her mother's six-year struggle with Alzheimer's. Lara shared that her mother could recognize her face. However, she could not find the words to say her name. Once, before losing all her words, she called Lara "cousin."

The music in the animation was created by Javier Torres Maldonado. It represents the inner thoughts of a woman. She is doing something simple, like leaving work and going home. Lara's art often hints at many bodies, even if they are not directly shown.

Her Unique Style

Magali Lara is one of Mexico's most important conceptual artists since the 1970s. Over time, she has tried many new techniques. But her ideas about language, the body, privacy, and desire have stayed the same. This is where the main idea behind her art comes from.

Critics praise Lara's unique style. One critic wrote that her work "is unmistakable." They noted how she keeps improving her techniques and themes. Her art has earned her a place among the top artists in Mexico.

Lara has mentioned the experimental animator Norman McLaren as an influence. Her personal experiences as a woman in the 1970s also shaped her art. She was part of the feminist movements in Mexico and Latin America. She has written that animation helps her show the experiences of the female body.

Besides the female form, her art also focuses on nature. It explores how humans interact with the natural world. Her work often has an organic feel. It shows not just life, but also calmness. Her art is about deeply understanding and being part of nature. It's not just about drawing what nature looks like.

Where to See Her Work

Collections

Magali Lara's art is held in many museums around the world.

Her Roles in Art Groups

Magali Lara has been active in feminist art and social art. She has held roles in many groups and institutions.

Awards and Honors

Magali Lara has received several awards and honors for her work.

See also

In Spanish: Magali Lara para niños