Julio Galán (December 5, 1958 – August 4, 2006) was a Mexican

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. Galán was one of

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

neo-expressionist Neo-expressionism is a style of Late modernism, late modernist or early-Postmodern art, postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', ''Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wild ...

painters of the end of the last century and the beginning of this one. His paintings and collages are full of elements that usually represent his life.

Biography

Galán was born into a wealthy and conservative Roman Catholic family in Muzquiz, a northern Mexican mining town. As a child he attended private school in

Monterrey, Mexico Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

and later enrolled to study architecture at the University of Monterrey. Galán started his career in this town. While in Mexico, Galán painted dresses for fashion designer

Nicole Miller Nicole Miller is an American fashion designer and businesswoman. Miller attended the Rhode Island School of Design where she earned a BFA in Apparel Design. She studied for a year at L'Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture ParisienneBal ...

, who introduced him to

Paige Powell Paige Powell (born 1950 or 1951) is an American photographer, curator, art consultant, and animal rights activist. Powell was the public affairs director of the Portland zoo, Portland Zoo before she moved to New York City in 1980. Between 1982 and ...

. Powell worked for

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

at ''

Interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...

'' magazine in New York. Warhol printed several of Galán's works in ''Interview'', and shortly after Galán moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1984. Powell organized two shows for the artist in New York City. His first New York show was scheduled to open at an

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...

apartment in June 1985 where Powell had previously organized a show, but it was canceled when the board of directors of the co-op building banned the exhibition. Mexican ambassador Joaquín Bernal allowed Powell to use the

Consul General A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

gallery in

Midtown South Midtown South is a macro-neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, generally characterized as constituting the southern portion of Midtown Manhattan. Midtown Manhattan hosts over 700,000 daily employees as a busy hub for worker ...

for Galán's show. The opening of the exhibition coincided with the Mexico City earthquake on September 19, 1985. Following that show, Galán participated in the exhibition ''Mexico, The New Generation'' at the

San Antonio Museum of Art The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) is an art museum in Downtown San Antonio, Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA. The museum spans 5,000 years of global culture. The museum is housed in the historic former Lone Star Brewing Company, Lone Star Bre ...

in San Antonio, Texas. In the fall of 1986, Powell organized another solo show for the Galán at art critic Edit DeAk's apartment in SoHo. From 1980 to 1998, Galán was represented by art dealer

Annina Nosei Annina Nosei (born 1939) is an Italian-born art dealer and gallerist. Nosei is best known for being Jean-Michel Basquiat’s first art dealer and providing him with studio space in the basement of her gallery. From 1981 to 2006, the Annina Nosei Ga ...

and he has various shows at her gallery in New York. He also had shows internationally, including the Gallerie Barbara Farber in Amsterdam and the Galleria Gian Enzo Sperone in Rome. In 1994 he won the "Premio Marco" from the

Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey Museo may refer to: * ''Museum'' (2018 film), Mexican drama heist film *Museo station Museo is a Naples Metro station on Line 1. It opened on 5 April 2001 as the eastern terminus of the section of the line between Vanvitelli and Museo. On 27 Ma ...

. That same year he exhibited at the Center for Fine Arts in Miami, Florida, the

Museo de Arte Moderno The Museo de Arte Moderno (MAM) is a museum dedicated to modern Mexican art located in Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. The museum is part of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura and provides exhibitions of national and internat ...

in México City, and the Contemporary Art Museum of Houston, Texas. Galán died on a plane that was taking him back to Monterrey after suffering a brain hemorrhage on August 4, 2006.Obituary
in ''The New York Times''

Selected solo exhibitions

Galán had solo exhibitions at the following art institutions: * 1980: Galeria Arte Actual Mexicano, Monterrey, Mexico * 1982: Galeria Arte Actual Mexicano, Monterrey, Mexico * 1982: Galeria Arvil, Mexico * 1983: Galeria Arte Actual Mexicano, Monterrey, Mexico * 1984: Galeria Uno, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico * 1984: Galeria Clave, Guadalajara, Mexico * 1985: Consulate General of Mexico, New York * 1985: Art Mart Gallery, New York * 1986: Barbara Farber Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland * 1986: Edit DeAk's loft, New York, United States * 1987: Museo de Monterrey, Mexico; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico; MuseoRegional de Guadalajara, Mexico * 1987: Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, United States * 1988: Museo de Monterrey, Mexico * 1988: Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico * 1988: Galerie Barbara Farber, Amsterdam, Holland * 1989: Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, United States * 1990: Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, United States * 1990: Galleria Gian Enzo Sperone, Rome, Italy * 1990: Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Holland * 1990: Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico * 1991: Milagros Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, United States * 1992: Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, United States * 1992: Galerie Barbara Faber, Amsterdam, Holland * 1992: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Holland * 1992: Pabellón Mudéjar, Seville, Spain * 1993: ''Dark Music'', Pittsburg Center for the Arts, Pittsburg. United States * 1994: Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, Texas, United States * 1994: Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Mexico * 1994:

, Mexico City, Mexico * 1994: Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, United States * 1995: Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France * 1996: Barbara Farber Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland * 1996: Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, United States * 1997: ''Oro Poderoso'', Galeria Ramis Barquet N.Y. at Robert Miller Gallery, New York, United States * 1998: Enrique Guerrero, Mexico * 1998: Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France * 2001: ''My Mirrors'', Robert Miller Gallery, New York, United States * 2007:

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (English: Museum of Contemporary Art, Monterrey), abbreviated as MARCO, is a major contemporary art art museum, museum, located in the city of Monterrey, in Nuevo León state of northeastern Mexico. MARC ...

(MARCO), Monterrey, México. * 2008:

Museo Amparo The Museo Amparo, located in the historic center of Puebla City, is one of the most important historical museums in Mexico. It was inaugurated in 1991 and sponsored by the Amparo Foundation, which was founded in 1979 by Manuel Espinoza Yglesias i ...

, Puebla, México * 2008:

Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso Colegio de San Ildefonso, currently is a museum and cultural center in Mexico City, considered to be the birthplace of the Mexican muralism movement. San Ildefonso began as a prestigious Jesuit boarding school, and after the Reform War it gaine ...

, Ciudad de México, México.Julio Galán: Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso. Gómez, Edward M. Art in America. Feb2009, Vol. 97 Issue 2, p140-141. 2p. * 2023: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Monterrey, México.

References

External links

* Adams, Brooks
"Julio Galan's hothouse icons - Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico."
''Art in America'', July 1994.
Julio_Galán
on Artist-Info
Julio Galán
on Encyclopædia Britannica * del Conde, Teresa

''La Jornada'', July 23, 2002. 1958 births 2006 deaths 20th-century Mexican painters 20th-century Mexican male artists Mexican male painters 21st-century Mexican painters 21st-century Mexican male artists Neo-expressionist artists {{Mexico-painter-stub