Arte Abierto Baja inaugurates its new Commissions andExhibitions space with a work conceived from the ground up, shaped by place,process, and presence.

Autorretrato flameante…(2025), by Abraham Cruzvillegas, is assembled in situ using everyday objectsand discarded materials collected in Cabo. Rather than arriving complete, thepiece takes form on site, guided by the surrounding landscape and theconditions of the place itself.

True to Cruzvillegas’s practice, the installation explores therelationship between labor, environment, and what the artist refers to as his mineralsoul or ánima. The work doesn’t sit apart from its context, itemerges from it.

The palette and materials, particularly the use of pink andgreen, reference Mangueira, the favela and samba school in Rio de Janeiro thatdeeply influenced the artist after his visit in 2003. This experience resonateswith his own background in Colonia Ajusco, in Coyoacán, where collectivebuilding practices shaped everyday life. From there, Cruzvillegas has continuedto explore connections across different territories and informal settlementsaround the world.

With this inaugural exhibition, Arte Abierto Baja opens a spaceto experience contemporary art in close dialogue with landscape, community, andthe ways places are built over time.

Come visit. Walk the space. Let it inspire you.

“Autorretrato flameante, mirando al mismotiempo a dos mares, asomándome para tirar guiños a los cardones, laschirinolas, los cirios, las biznagas, los alicoches, los lentiscos, las yucas,los saladitos, las jojobas, los chamizos, las pitayas, los chilicotes, laschoyas, los ocotillos, y al tecolote llanero, mientras me tumbo un par detostadas de abulón y almeja chocolata, junto con sus buenos guarapos, unakawazaki rusa bien helodia, y un licor de damiana, escuchando la sublime ‘Elinvisible’, mientras tiro un chiflido llanero que se escuchará en toda lapenínsula, antes de que llegue el ferry, 2025.” Abraham Cruzvillegas