Alberto Blanco, art critic and one of Mexico's most important poets, will present a talk on Thursday, February 12 titled "Remedios Varo and The Rupture."

In conjunction with the ongoing exhibit in El Cubo, Blanco will reflect on the role of Remedios Varo in the important Mexican post-war art movement "The Rupture."

The "Breakaway Generation" ("La Generación de la Ruptura" began in the 1950s as a reaction of the post-World War II generation of artists against Mexican muralism. From the 1920s-1950s, muralism dominated Mexican art, driven by social themes of mestizo identity and the Mexican Revolution. By the 1950s, younger artists argued that the established school of painting had become dogmatic, politicized and overly nationalistic. Post-war artists were interested in exploring personal vision and took up the innovations and styles of international art movements like abstract expressionism.

Alberto Blanco, as the artistic collaborator with Leonora Carrington, close friend of Remedios Varo in the 1950s until Varo's death in 1963, holds a privileged position to understand the role of Remedios Varo in this movement.

As a poet, prolific essayist, visual artist and musician, Alberto Blanco is one of those rare individuals who creates masterful work in many disciplines, and like Remedios Varo, pushes against the boundaries and limits inherent in the institutionalization of any form. Blanco has collaborated with numerous painters, sculptors and photographers. In 2007, Blanco exhibited 108 collages in the Estación Indianilla in Mexico City, along with recent sculptures by Leonora Carrington.

Jerome Rothenberg, poet and professor emeritus at UCSD, describes Blanco as "An increasingly significant voice in Mexican & Latin American poetry, Blanco crosses boundaries between poetry as such & his other works as musician, artist, essayist & translator."

The lecture will be held Thursday, February 12 at 7:00 PM at CECUT in the Carlos Monsiváis Theatre, on the 4th floor.

Admission is free of charge.

jill.holslin@sandiegored.com