Chez Max et Dorothea is pleased to announce our upcoming fall exhibition Daniela Gallois and Benjamín Serrano. This highly anticipated exhibition seeks to draw broader recognition to these extraordinary artists who lived and worked for most of their lives in the border city of Tijuana, Mexico. The exhibition Daniela Gallois and Benjamín Serrano will open on Saturday, September 28th and runs until November 3rd. Please join us for an opening reception in Los Angeles from 5pm to 9pm.
Daniela Gallois (née Danielle Gallois), born in 1939 in the medieval village of Bar-le-Duc, France, met Benjamín Serrano during his studies in Paris in the mid-1960s. As the story goes Serrano, who was born on the same year in Tijuana, pursued Gallois gallantly, and she resisted until coming face-to-face with his self-portrait. A romance ensued, and in 1966 they married in Tijuana, where Gallois settled for the remainder of her life.
Similarly, it was Dorothea Tanning’s first showing of her self-portrait Birthday to Max Ernst that spawned the love story between Tanning and Ernst that serves as the origins of Chez Max et Dorothea. Gallois and Serrano remained close friends after their eventual separation, aiding and abetting their artistic pursuits as well as their debilitating addictions.
Exhibition co-curator Jacinto Astiazarán writes, “Daniela was a hustler and an icon of the streets of Tijuana during her lifetime. She felt equally comfortable among the elite businessmen she counted on as art patrons and the seedy men she caroused with in the bars of Tijuana’s notorious Zona Norte. She was unapologetically herself; she was a lover and caretaker of wounded street animals, and she left a deep impression on all who befriended and supported her.” In an interview with artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Serrano states at 46 years old, “I still have a lot of working years left, and it’s about time I shake this bohemian craziness.” Tragically, Benjamín Serrano was found dead at his family home in Tijuana three years later in May of 1988.
Following a stay in Oaxaca in 1966, where the artists befriended acclaimed artist Francisco Toledo, Serrano expanded his painting practice into polychrome wood sculpture, while Gallois experimented with textiles following in the tradition of artists like Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo who drew from Mexican folkloric and pre-hispanic art. With wry humor and a keen understanding of power dynamics around sexuality, religion, and identity, Serrano continued working in Tijuana through an idiosyncratic bicultural lens. Meanwhile, Gallois worked tirelessly to produce a large body of work that syncretized influences derived from medieval and Byzantine art, her family’s history in East Asia, and what can only be described as phantasmagoric menageries inhabiting the land and ocean worlds of curious female forms. Daniela Gallois spent her last few years between Tijuana and Rosarito, where she passed away in 2006.
Despite their prolific output and imaginative creations in painting, sculpture, and mixed media assemblage, Serrano and Gallois have stood in the shadow of the international art world outside of Tijuana for far too long. This significant exhibition will highlight their expansive oeuvres and bring together research materials and photographs to contextualize further their personal lives and careers. Exhibition highlights where both artists participated include group shows at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, Baxter Art Gallery at Caltech in Pasadena, and Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT) among many solo gallery and institutional exhibitions. The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego holds artworks by both artists in their permanent collection, as do numerous important private collections.
“We are thrilled to showcase the works of Serrano and Gallois to the art community of Los Angeles and beyond,” said Brigitte Nicole Grice, President of Chez Max et Dorothea. “Their art deserves to be seen and appreciated, and this exhibition will provide a platform for their incredible contributions to be recognized.”
Daniela Gallois and Benjamín Serrano will be held from September 28th through November 3rd, 2024 at Chez Max et Dorothea’s Los Angeles headquarters. It will feature a diverse selection of paintings, sculptures, and mixed media pieces that reflect the artists’ rich cultural and emotional landscapes.
The curators of Daniela Gallois and Benjamín Serrano would like to thank Consulado General de México en Los Ángeles for their support.
Daniela Gallois and Benjamín Serrano is curated by Jacinto Astiazarán and Dr. Brigitte Nicole Grice, and runs until the 3rd of November.
