Lucha Libre: Beyond the Arenas

The ASU Art Museum presents Lucha Libre: Beyond the Arenas, a groundbreaking exhibition that features painting, photography and mixed media artworks by internationally recognized Mexican and Chicanx contemporary artists along with collectors’ items, film posters and other memorabilia from some of the sport’s most famous wrestlers. The exhibition is organized by ASU Art Museum Senior Curator Julio Cesar Morales and Mexico City-based independent curator Fernanda Ramos, together with consulting curator Sharon Gesund.

This first exhibition of its kind, Lucha Libre goes beyond the sport’s popularity in contemporary culture to reveal its ancient roots, explore its influence on socio-political movements and link its relationships to the visual culture of Mexico and beyond. In this exhibition, the phenomenon of lucha libre transcends the glitz and glamor of the theatrical stage to become a way to investigate themes of the underdog and the hero, identity and performance, and collective resistance to authority.

“The luchadores represent and are a symbol for the underclass, taking aspects of what a hero is and connecting to their own circumstances regarding socioeconomic disparities, dictatorships and colonialism,” says Senior Curator Julio Cesar Morales. “The luchador brings glimpses of hope and represents the aspirations of ordinary people.”

Lucha Libre includes work by photographer Lourdes Grobet, who documented lucha libre since the 1970s and whose iconic imagery is timeless and powerful. Grobet passed away this year at the age of 81. The exhibition also features new work by Karla Diaz, a Latinx artist who shares her history of growing up in a Latino household where lucha libre was always present. Lucha Libre highlights photographer Irene de La Peña’s work featuring Super Barrio, a wrestler turned social activist who is a community organizer that fights corruption for the working-class people in Mexico City. Additionally, see work by photographer Annick Bonkers, who spent two years documenting Cassandro, an Exotico wrestler (openly gay wrestler) who is known as the Liberace of lucha libre and is also an LGBT activist.

The exhibition at ASU Art Museum offers all visitors — from those who grew up loving the sport to audiences discovering it for the first time — an opportunity to view and understand lucha libre through the lenses of popular culture, poetics and politics. This exhibition is a vehicle to appreciate and deepen our knowledge of Mexican and Mexican-American culture, which has been historically underrepresented in art museums.

Artists and photographers include Dr. Alderete, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Carlos Amorales, Javier Barrios, Maris Bustamante (photos by Lourdes Almeida), Karla Díaz, Annick Donkers, Fili Duron, Juan “El Charro” Espinosa, Mr. Fish, Demián Flores, César Flores and Gabriella Gómez-Mont, Guillermo Gómez Peña, Emmanuel García, David Gremard, Zarco Guerrero, Juan Guzmán, Lourdes Grobet, Graciela Iturbide, Alejandro Macías, Pedro Meyer, Mr.poper Nicolás Marín, Nina Hoechtl feat. SUPER DISIDENCIAS, INVASORIX feat. Noemy Esparza-Isaacson, Carlos Ramírez, Joe Ray, Ireri de la Peña, Dulce Pinzón, Rotmi Enciso & Ina Riaskov with Producciones y Milagros, Agrupación Feminista, Francisco Toledo, Miguel Valverde, Katayoun Vaziri and Lorena Wolffer.

Lucha Libre: Beyond the Arenas opens on Oct. 29, 2022 and is on view through May 7, 2023.

Lucha Libre: Beyond the Arenas is supported by Cloth & Flame, Rich and Sally Lehmann, Friends of Mexican Art, RDA Consulting, Chuy Rodriguez, Maria Borja, Jesus Rodriguez and Christie’s Mexico. Additional exhibition and programmatic support is made possible by our Creative Impact Board, Directors’ Council, Innovation Council and the Windgate Foundation.

ABOUT ASU ART MUSEUM
Arte para todos. Art for all. As a learning-centered cultural institution, ASU Art Museum centers art and artists in the service of community well-being and social good. The Arizona State University Art Museum is dedicated to collecting, commissioning, documenting and caring for important works of art to honor people and their stories. It produces exhibitions of artists of diverse media, ethnicity, geography and gender and scholarly publications serving as critical contributions to the field of art. The museum harnesses the university’s breadth and depth of expertise to pioneer new and equitable models for arts learning, engagement and placemaking/placekeeping accountable to the communities we serve. The ASU Art Museum is an integral part of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University.

For more information, visit asuartmuseum.org.