Mexican Medici

摘要

In October, during a late-night dinner at a pent-house apartment overlooking Mexico City's Chapultepec Park, U.S. Ambassador Tony O. Garza is recounting his recent visit with Cheech Marin of comedy duo Cheech & Chong. Marin is. one of the biggest collectors of Chicano art in the U.S., explains Garza to fellow guests as he knocks back a shot of tequila. "Guys like Gheech are giving the whole Latin art market a lift," he says, gazing at a 5-foot bronze tarantula mounted on a nearby wall. Not as big a boost, however, as the evening's host (and the spider's owner), 36-year-old Eugenio L6pez Alonso, scion of-the Mexican family that owns Jumex, one of the biggest juice producers in the world. Since 2001 the boyish supercollector has been the largest patron in Mexico's modern art scene. In funding an estimated one-third of the contemporary art exhibitions in Mexico City, Lopez has lifted the careers (and plumped the pocketbooks) of dozens of artists. He now wants North Americans to share his passion. Latin art is still viewed through the lens of stodgy, pre-World War Ⅱ muralism. "It's time to break that mold," he says with a wave of his hand. "Why shouldn't contemporary art from Latin America get the same respect as contemporary works from Europe or the U.S.?"