Mauricio Limón de León: El primero que ria. Der Erste der lacht.
Mauricio Limón de León’s “El primero que ría, der Erste der Lacht” is an exhibition that brings together 12 years of work originating in the human interactions that the Mexican artist has built in an intense and enduring way with his antagonists “El Flama”, his family and friends, emphasizing the topology of Iztapalapa, a complex neighborhood in Mexico City.
“El Flama” himself and his circle belong to a social group characterized by marginality, insecurity and informal work. “El Flama’s” body is a scarred witness of the hard life in the streets of a metropolis.
However, through humor, the ability to laugh at oneself, and with relationships established at on equal terms and all kinds of shared risks, “the first to laugh, der Erste der Lacht” majestically succeeds at integrating “El Flama” and his family into the aesthetic agency of a work of art freed from ideologies or politization. Therefore, the body of work does not operate through pedagogies or moralism, instead, it emphasizes color, materiality and facture as formal vehicle to accentuate aspects of the human condition.
Through videos, photography, painting and magazine printing, Mauricio Limón de León works explore friendship, family structure, the role of the body and sexuality, in constant communication within the urban and rural landscape of Iztapalapa.
“The first to laugh, der Erste der Lacht” is the third station of the exhibition after Paris and Madrid. Marco Calderón developed its original curatorship.