Ana Pellicer (1946-2025) was certainly one of the most celebrated artists in creating Mexican design. I was introduced to her work when it was included in an exhibition by Mexico-City-based gallery MASA in Rockeffeler Center in the spring of 2022. Now that MASA has opened a new retrospective entitled Tienes que olvidar para recordar, just weeks after her passing at 79, it is a great opportunity to learn more about the oeuvre her work, which stood on the line between the radical and the traditional, the contemporary and the artisanal.
Pellicer was a Mexican sculptor and maker who created artisanal jewelry and objects, while experimenting with local crafts in paper, wood, and mainly in sculpting in cooper, and established sustainable vision. In her hands, copper, bronze, and amate became a living language through which she sculpted time – past and future – into objects of enduring form that unsettle distinctions between abstraction and figuration, and decoration and function.
The exhibition traces the breadth of her inspiring career, in which Pellicer cultivated a rich and multifaceted practice as a sculptor, goldsmith, and educator, standing at the forefront of arts education in Mexico through her advocacy for the preservation of traditional craftsmanship through education and support of women’s training in metalsmithing. In addition to sculpture from public and private collections, the exhibition presents archival material and the last recorded interview with Pellicer, and offers an expansive view of her work, as well as its inspirations and legacies.
The exhibition, at MASA will be on view through July 26th.
