Suma, Grupo

(Mexican collective 1976-1982)

The summer of 1968 marked an awakening of collective consciousness in Mexico, tragically punctuated by the police repression of student demonstrations, including the massacre at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas. In the following years, young artist collectives emerged in rebellion, deeply influencing artistic practice between 1974 and 1982, a period known as the "movement of the groups." The Suma group is the most influential among these collectives, where political action and artistic praxis merge. It was formed in 1976 by students of the experimental workshop led by Ricardo Rocha at the National School of Plastic Arts and is composed of twenty-two artists. The members meet weekly to design new projects and evaluate the success of those already carried out: guerrilla artistic actions in the streets of Mexico City that challenge the habits and commitments of the so-called "fine arts" and are based on the experience of everyday life. The members of Suma intend to depersonalize the process of artistic creation, redefine the role of the spectator, reject the artwork as an autonomous object, reach a broader and more popular audience, offer social and political criticism, and reject institutionalized artistic practices. Their early interventions combine graffiti and abstract expressionist painting, supplemented by words, slogans, and symbols. Their canvases are the walls of Mexico City. The majority of their productions were erased by the police. In 2011, the Machado Gallery and the Espacio de Arte in Mexico City dedicated an exhibition to the Group, and the Josée Bienvenu Gallery in New York also opened its doors to a retrospective in 2016.