“Vida Visión II”

Life and Vision of Martin Lartigue and Mona Liaras

This exhibition presents us with a glimpse of the journey taken by Martin Lartigue and Mona Liaras. Using drawing, painting, and printmaking, Lartigue recounts numerous stories drawn from his life and dreams, humorously highlighting Mexican cultural traits and those of other cultures. With his extensive experience in the visual and performing arts, he has created works in a surrealistic style containing symbols, recurring characters, urban and rural scenes to show us how he perceives life.

“Even though it’s very detailed, drawing isn’t a truth. It’s not about reality but about each person’s truth. No one knows who invented drawing, but it existed before writing.

Today, it’s still a way of expressing, and in these recent drawings, I don’t need to say what I want to express—I draw it instead. So, the drawings don’t need me to speak; they speak all languages, in a way.

We’ve been coming to Yucatan for several years, and for this presentation at the Zapote gallery, I’m blending some memories with my current presence here.

I’m taking this little liberty with pleasure.”
Martin, 2024

Mona Liaras’ ceramic pieces and mixed media techniques explore and analyze the transformation of the human body, evoking emotions through the use of doll body parts that provide new context and are adorned with headdresses inspired by the Berber cultures of Morocco.

“Here are these doll heads, cut out and painted, inspired by Berber motifs from Morocco, in a very loose interpretation. The heads thus become masks or fetishes…

As for these little figures, of which sometimes even I don’t know to which sex they belong, they stem from my long-standing inquiries about identity, transformation, change… What body is it?”

Mona Liaras, 2024