It is an eclectic place that agrees with the artist's ideas and now exhibits part of his work.
Lurie (Leningrad, 1924-New York, 2008) was one of the founders of the "No! art" movement, which opposed the excessive commercialization of American painting, an attitude that the artist took to the extreme: he never sold his works.
From this week until May 2023, the capital museum will host the exhibition "No Complaciente", a compendium of paintings and sculptures that take a tour of the creator's hectic life and work.
"Irreverence is part of his personality, perhaps he is one of the most frank artists who has ever existed," said Reynier Valdez, the curator of the exhibition, who pointed out that a good part of that freedom was born from the economic stability that business provided him. his father's.
Lurie's life began in a family of Jewish origin from Leningrad, today Saint Petersburg, who emigrated to Riga (Latvia) fleeing the hostility of Leninism towards the Hebrews.
While there they encountered the Nazi invasion in 1941, which led to the murder of the women in their family. He, for his part, entered a concentration camp for the first time at the age of 16.
«Holocaust survivors bear the weight of guilt for having survived. And that goes through his work,” said Valdez.
He later moved to New York with his father, where he began an artistic career marked by his wounds and the critical view towards the society that welcomed him.
The trauma of the Holocaust, his relationship with female figures, his Jewish origin and the rejection of consumerism are the themes that fill an exhibition of nearly 100 pieces.
The female figures that Lurie portrayed, often in groups of three and with abstract shapes, are surely a tribute to his murdered mother, sister and grandmother, the curator explained.
His next stage was marked by the creation of his artistic movement, to oppose American consumerism and the "Pop Art" led by artists such as Andy Warhol.
«In 1959 he created 'No!art', which opposed the art market, galleries, and how works are constructed. Above all, the work is accommodating," stressed Valdez.
LURIE AND MEXICO
That Lurie's work ended up on display at the National Museum of World Cultures is the product of chance, but the curator of the exhibition hinted that the place and the artist were destined to meet.
After an exhibition on migratory phenomena commissioned by an expert on persecuted and Jewish artists, he was fascinated by the museum and the variety of works and themes it houses.
"He thought that he (Lurie) would have liked it, and that's how negotiations began," said Valdez.
Furthermore, he highlighted the relationship that exists between the "unnamed victims" that Lurie portrays and "a Mexico with thousands of missing people, with Ayotzinapa and many other disastrous events." EFE
Who knows how much pain he suffered for his relatives who died in such tragic and inexplicable circumstances and anguish for having survived him – also his anguish.
recuetdos – cannot be judged