Made up of fragments culled from Alejandro García Contreras’s titular exhibition at Pioneer Works, ¿Quién no ha intentado convertir una piedra en un recuerdo?—translated to, “Who hasn’t tried to turn a stone into a memory?”—is an amalgam of cultural icons, popular figures, and various motifs related to architecture and sexuality. Created on site during the artist’s 2024 residency, these components were cast from candy molds and plastic toy masks sourced from Mexico City, then configured into a multimedia installation that explored the dichotomy between human beings’ ephemerality and the material objects they leave behind.

About the Artist

Alejandro García Contreras (b. 1982 in Tapachula Chiapas, Mexico) characterizes his creative work by experimentation and dialogue between different materials and technical resources, making his work a mix between various media such as painting, sculpture, photography, video and graphics. The themes of his work are linked to his personality and through his artistic projects, he explores topics and themes inspired by contemporary popular culture, Mexican folklore, myth, occultism and religion. He holds a bachelor's degree in Visual Arts from the National Institute of Fine Arts (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes) in Mexico City, Mexico. His work was the winning acquisition of the 2006 Artfest WTC and he is a two-time recipient of the FONCA / Young Creators Scholarship. Contreras has held solo exhibitions at Proyecto NASAL, Gamma Galleria, House of Gaga, Travesia Cuatro, Saenger Galeria and Eito Eiko, among others. He has been included in art fairs including NADA, New York and Miami with Swivel Gallery and ArtOsaka with Eito Eiko. Contreras recently completed a residency in Paris, through Art Explora in collaboration with Cité internationale des arts.