ABOUT US
El Zapote gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Mérida, Yucatán, founded in 2016 by two working artists who believed original art deserved a more considered space than a park bench along Paseo de Montejo. What began as an informal exhibition in the vestibule of our own home has grown into a program built on close, lasting relationships with the artists we represent.
Our collection brings together Mexican and international artists — painters and printmakers whose work has, in many cases, been shaped directly by years of living and creating in Yucatán, carrying an authentic, lasting connection to the place where it was made. Our program today centers on two-dimensional work — painting and printmaking — complemented by select three-dimensional and experimental projects.
We choose the artists we work with by a simple standard: commitment to their practice, discipline, and a body of work that shows real technical and conceptual evolution over time.
We remain an active part of Mérida’s cultural life, participating each year in La Noche Blanca, the city’s cultural night.
“Entering the Outside”
“Painting is a pretext to spend three hours in front of a plant.” Working from this premise of contemplation, Emilio Lameiras paints en plein air, interpreting the coastal, rural, and urban landscapes around him as they shift in real time. Preparing his palette as the light constantly changes becomes, for the artist, a quiet meditation on the fleeting nature of time — an awareness rooted in direct, sustained observation of place. Explore the exhibition and read the gallery text in the artist’s own words by clicking HERE
“To Stay a Little Longer”
Amelia Opalinska presents To Stay a Little Longer (Quedarse un poco más) at El Zapote Gallery, a series of 21 paintings documenting her journey through the Sierra Tarahumara in Chihuahua. Painted by an artist whose own practice took root in Yucatán over a decade of living and working here, the collection traces the shift from external observation to internal sensation, evoking landscape and Rarámuri textile through intuitive gesture and color rather than literal representation. Read about the exhibition HERE
“Images from the Amazon”
Visual artist Colleen Casey presents Amazonas: The Fragility of the World’s Lungs, a series of 15 photographs documenting the Amazon River’s high and low water cycles, recorded over a 1,000-mile journey between 2017 and 2019. The work stands as a visual record of the scale of this ecosystem and the urgency of its conservation. Read about the exhibition HERE
“Magic Lurks in Color.”
For the third time, El Zapote Gallery presents new work by Amelia Opalinska, painted through a demanding 2024 shaped by Mérida’s tropical rhythm — persistent heat and humidity turning the days inward, toward introspection, before turning outward again into the work itself. In the artist’s own words, the series moves through “the ebbs and flows that mark our days,” phases of movement and stillness rendered in color, shape, and intensity. Read about the exhibition HERE
“Mirando Atrás”
A retrospective marking 38 years of artistic trajectory, this exhibition traces the evolution of Marielena Jorge Macari — a Mérida-born artist whose training began at the Instituto de Bellas Artes in Mérida before extending to the Rhode Island School of Design, the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, and the Instituto Allende. From her figurative beginnings to her recent work in abstraction, the show reveals a style in constant experimentation, shaped over decades by a practice that has remained rooted in Yucatán even as it reached museums and collections across Mexico, the United States, Venezuela, and Italy. Read about the exhibition HERE
“Los Dueños del Monte”
Pedro Tec’s art is rooted in his profound love for his Mayan heritge and the Mayan community at large. In each of his photos, Pedro captures his culture and its majesty. Read about the exhibition HERE
“Eyes, Needles, and Fireflies. The Story of Things”
“Eyes, Needles, and Fireflies. The Story of Things” is the second solo show by Amelia Opalinska at El Zapote Gallery. This new series showcases an evolution from the paintings featured in her previous exhibit, offering three-dimensional assemblages with found objects that reveal a profound journey of transformation. Read about the exhibition HERE
“Spirit of Place”
Stephen Aiken examines with fascination the intriguing human tendency to project their characteristics onto things in their environment, creating dynamic figure-ground interplays that evoke anthropomorphism in the viewer. Read about the exhibition HERE
“Vida Visión II”
Galería El Zapote presents in this exhibition the works of Martin Lartigue and Mona Liaras, created in 2024 and in the previous years since 2015, during which the couple visited Mérida frequently to create and exhibit their work. Throughout their journey through France, Morocco, and Mexico, the artists have observed the cities and their culture, ultimately expressing their diverse perspectives through painting, printmaking, ceramics, and mixed techniques. Read about the exhibition HERE
“Trapitos al Sol”
‘Trapitos al Sol’ by Amelia Opalinska is a selection of paintings that narrate personal experiences like a photo album. With great spontaneity and ease, the artist projects her memories onto canvas without technical constraints. Neither abstract nor strictly realistic, Amelia’s style evokes Yucatecan landscapes and unique memories. Read about the exhibition HERE
“Diversidades Graficas”
Exploring themes like wrestling, the lottery, skulls, and other references to Mexican culture, the Adzul Marino Graphics Workshop presents a selection of their recent work from Playa del Carmen, using the techniques of woodcut, linocut, and embossing. Read about the exhibition HERE
“Gold Series”
“Gold Series” is an exhibition that presents the most recent work of Carlos Mauricio Pliego, created in Estado de Mexico. The central theme of this series is rediscovering his homeland. Learn more about the exhibition by clicking on HERE
“Banderas”
Banderas is a solo exhibition by Stephen Aiken that brings together a series of abstract works developed through geometric structures, rhythmic patterns, and an ongoing exploration of color. Through compositions in various formats, the exhibition invites an open visual reading, free from fixed meanings, offering an experience guided by perception and the viewer’s own rhythm. Learn more about the exhibition by clicking on HERE
“Retratos en Grupo”
“Group Portraits” is a body of paintings on different surfaces that aims to remember with a bit of humor those groups of family or friends who took advantage of any meeting to take a group portrait. Some represent smiles or serious expressions; others accommodate a leg forward or to the side; others show hugs as well as gesturing and the provoking of others. Learn more about the exhibition by clicking on HERE
“Dakinis Female Messengers of Wisdom”
Lorraine Toohey created 24 ceramic sculptures and mixed media pieces inspired by Tibetan deities Dakinis, which represent female wisdom.
“Seres Fantásticos a la Vista”
Michel Maugee and Stefanie Schikora created fantastic creatures and we are showing you some of these unique bright and colorful pieces of art.
“Illumination”
Marketa is a self-motivated disciplined artist who has found in meditation an efficient tool for life, specially now that is necessary to face the impact of the lockdown and other issues related to COVID -19 pandemic. She created this series of linocuts inspired by the experience of meditation, making visual some concepts such as love, energy or illumination in a friendly style of human figure that interacts with their feelings and even with the animals.
“Coronas y Polvo”
Painting exhibition by Carlos Mauricio Pliego and Walter José Cen. Both, young painters living in Merida Yucatan have been creating new works in very different styles while facing their particular realities.
Toilet Paper Story
Culto al rollo / The Toilet Paper Story is the graphic chronicle of a pandemic by the designer, printmaker, and illustrator, Manuel Taure. With a playful intention and sardonic point of view, Taure presents 9 stories printed on toilet paper. They place the viewer as an inevitable witness to the immediate reality, and teach us one more way to adapt the graphic tradition to the current context.
January 29 – March 29 2021.
“Bedouin Life in Egypt from Metal Etching Plates”
Robert Gutowski’s artworks in metal etching plates are inspired by his experiences in Egypt. Read about the exhibition HERE
Buenos Augurios 2020 – Good Omens 2020
The artists of El Zapote Gallery good omens for 2020 in a collective exhibition.
January 2020
Alberto Zecchini Painting Exhibition
Italian painter Alberto Zecchini first painting exhibition in Yucatan Mexico.
November 2019
