Starting May 10 and running through June 22, “Alebrijes and Nahuales: Fantastical Animals of Mexico” (Colossal Creatures in Bloom) will be on display at Yerba Buena Gardens in the heart of San Francisco, California, giving residents and visitors the chance to experience and engage with this incredible form of Mexican folk art.
The Consulate General of Mexico in San Francisco noted that after a successful debut in France in 2019, this extraordinary exhibition is arriving in the United States for the first time. Its goal is to bring the public closer to a living expression of Mexican folk art, deeply rooted in magical realism and the country’s popular traditions.
The exhibition features eight monumental sculptures, each over six meters tall, created in Mexico by renowned folk artists.
“Alebrijes y Nahuales” is a traveling exhibit that visits public spaces in various cities in the United States, promoting access to art, celebrating local diversity, and fostering cultural exchange.
The display combines two traditional art forms: the copal wood carvings that define the nahuales from Oaxaca and the colorful alebrijes, born in the 1940s from the imagination of artist Pedro Linares in Mexico City.
These art forms depict fantastical animals that merge real and spiritual elements and are the collective result of the talent of more than 200 artisan families from the central valleys of Oaxaca, who have preserved this tradition since the 1960s.
The monumental sculptures are enlarged reproductions of original pieces created by celebrated folk artists such as Efraín Fuentes, Margarito Melchor, Angélico Jiménez, Constantino Blas, María Jiménez, Adrián Xuana, and Leonardo Linares, a direct descendant of the creator of the alebrijes. The exhibition is curated by Carlomagno Pedro Martínez, director of the State Museum of Folk Art of Oaxaca.
Through their hands, these figures come to life, carrying with them the identity, imagination, and artistic legacy of their communities.
“This exhibition is an invitation to rediscover the transformative power of Mexican folk art, which connects generations, cultures, and different geographical areas. This colossal exhibit is a tribute to the talent of our artisans and to the cultural richness of Mexico,” said Ana Luisa Vallejo, Consul General of Mexico in San Francisco.
Open to the public daily and free of charge, this exhibition represents a unique opportunity to discover and enjoy Mexican folk art on a grand scale in one of San Francisco’s most iconic cultural spaces.
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Mexican Press Agency is part of ALMA, which is dedicated to news and information about Mexico and Mexicans in the United States and is a fiscally sponsored project of Social Focus, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Redwood City, California.
