Maris Bustamante

Maris Bustamante (born November 10, 1949) is a Mexican interdisciplinary artist who has presented her work in 21 solo exhibitions and over 400 group shows in Mexico and internationally. She has conceived, written, produced and executed more than 250 performances, installations, environments and two big “contraespectáculos” (anti-shows). She has presented performance art pieces through television broadcasts, which she called "social performances" involving the non-arts public. She also designs sets, costumes, and props for theatre, television, and cinema.

Maris Bustamante
Born (1949-11-20) November 20, 1949
Mexico City
NationalityMexican
Known forconceptual art, performance, sculpture, theater,t.v.
Notable work
 La patente del Taco, 1979 Contra los superhéroes gringos,1979

Education

She studied at Escuela Nacional de Pintura Y Escultura "La Esmeralda," one of the two top art schools in Mexico, from 1968 to 1973.[1][2]

Artwork and performance

In the 1970s, she began working as a conceptual artist, participating in the Groups ("Los Grupos") Movement in México City. She worked with the group NO GRUPO since its founding in 1979, until its dissolution six years later. SInce producing her first happening in 1971, she has researched non-traditional narratives.[2][1]

From 1977 to 1983, No Grupo staged several performances each year. In 1979, Bustamante spearheaded their extremely satirical Patente del Taco (1984). The piece primarily consisted of Bustamante’s application for and reception of a patent for the taco, an indigenous Mexican food. The taco and patent were photographed in erotic ways, with the food arranged vertically and decorated with slogans such as “Atrévase a cometer un acto erótico cómase un taco” (commit an erotic act: eat a taco). The images were then blown up to a cartoonish side to symbolize the inflated role of machismo in Mexican culture.[3]

In 1983, with Mónica Mayer, she founded the first feminist art collective in Mexico, Polvo de Gallina Negra (Black Hen Powder).[4] Bustamante and Mayer's work combined radical social criticism and humour, exemplified by the group’s name: “Black Hen Powder – to protect us from the patriarchal magic which makes women disappear.”[5][6]

For one performance, ¡MADRES! (1984), Bustamante and Mayer became pregnant at the same time so they could experience the conditions of pregnancy in Mexico. One element of the performance was a television series on Canal 2 de Televisa Mexico called “Mother for a Day,” in which Bustamante and Mayer “impregnated” famous men like anchorman Guillermo Ochoa (1987). A key discussion topic on the show was domestic life, with a focus on the massive amount of labor that goes into motherhood.[7][8]

References
  1. "Maris Bustamante". The Banff Center. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  2. "Maris Bustamante (México - 1949 )". Archivo Virtual de Artes Escénicas (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  3. McCaughan, Edward J. Art and Social Movements: Cultural Politics in Mexico and Aztaln. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012.
  4. "Polvo de Gallina Negra on pintomiraya.com".
  5. Re.Act.Feminism. Live Art Development Agency - Verlag fur Modern Kunst. 2014. p. 290. ISBN 978-3-86984-460-2.
  6. Stambaugh, Antonio Prieto (2003). "Wrestling the Phallus, Resisting Amnesia: The Body Politics of Chilanga Performance Artists". Holy Terrors: Latin American Women Perform. Duke University Press. p. 249. ISBN 0-8223-3240-X.
  7. Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn Museum: Monica P. Mayer. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/monica-p-mayer (accessed February 10, 2016)
  8. McCaughan, Edward J. "Navigating the Labyrinth of Silence: Feminist Artists in Mexico." Social Justice 34 (2007): 44-62.
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