Cantigny helps bring colorful sculptures to Wheaton
With its first large-scale art installation, Cantigny Park has joined forces with the Mexican Cultural Center DuPage to bring together a group of six artists from Mexico City to create Alebrijes: Creatures of a Dream World, a large-scale sculptural display that opens June 1 and runs through the end of October.
“Our friends at the Mexican Cultural Center DuPage had an idea for this exhibit, and they were looking for a host location and a partner,” said Matt LaFond, Cantigny’s executive director. “It fit perfectly with our desire to make a positive impact on our local community.”
The exhibit showcases 48 sculptures of varying sizes — the largest of which are close to 20 feet high — displayed outdoors throughout the park. The term “alebrijes” (pronounced ah-lehbree-hehs) was coined by Mexican artist Pedro Linares in the 1930s to describe his vivid dreams of imaginary creatures that possess attributes of various animals.
The art form grew in popularity, particularly in Mexico City, where artists sculpt these creatures using a metal framework covered in papier-mâché and painted bright colors. A coat of lacquer is added to weatherproof the sculptures, which you’ll find displayed outdoors throughout Mexico City.
“We’re always thinking about ways to bring the different communities together,” said Fernando Ramirez, president and founder of Mexican Cultural Center DuPage. “‘Alebrijes’ are one of those things that we’ve been talking about for a while because they are such beautiful art, and it’s an inspiring form for Mexican artists.”
He decided to move forward with the idea after the release of the Disney film “Coco,” which highlights these mythical creatures.
“Once ‘Coco’ came around, it made it a lot easier for people here to wrap their heads around the idea,” Ramirez said. “It made it easier for people to get it.”
The cultural center began moving forward with the project, working with a liaison in Mexico City to recruit artists who would be interested in the project. The pandemic slowed things down in 2020, but by 2021 Ramirez had the project moving again.
“He dreams really big,” said Sara Phalen, a Mexican Cultural Center DuPage board member and co-organizer of the exhibit, speaking of Ramirez. “It was his idea, and he made it happen.”
She spoke at Cantigny Park as the six artists unboxed and
assembled their sculptures, which were shipped on trucks from Mexico. It was the first time that some had seen their pieces fully completed, as their limited workspace didn’t allow them to be put together before being transported to Cantigny.
“You can see the emotion in their eyes, finally seeing their art come together,” Phalen said.
She’s worked with the artists, who will remain in the Chicago area until the middle of July, to better understand the alebrijes’ significance in Mexican culture.
“Each piece is unique,” she said. “Each artist creates them based on their emotions, the natural surroundings, and what’s happening in the world. You get a snapshot of that moment in time.”
She also highlighted the spiritual elements that accompany
each piece.
“You often associate them with the Day of the Dead, and they’re often tied to spirituality, and they can often get dark,” Phalen said. “For this exhibit, we focused on those that were a little more playful.”
The bright colors and patterns are a nod to the folk art and traditions found in the Indigenous people of Mexico. “All of those traditions are worked into these,” she said. “They are representative of a long and rich culture.”
For LaFond, one of the appeals of this exhibition is the involvement of the six artists, who will spend the next six weeks working on programs, lectures, visits in the community and other events surrounding the alebrijes project.
“The public will have a chance to meet them and have conversations with them,” LaFond said. “They are going to be doing an exhibit on-site as well. We’re building a giant alebrijes octopus from scratch, and visitors will be able to see every step of the process.”
Alberto Moreno Fernández, one of the six artists who is a toymaker in Mexico, characterizes his work as in the style of “magical realism.” This has been his first trip out of the country to display his artwork, and he estimated that it took him close to a year to create his eight sculptures.
Edgar Israel Camargo Reyes, another artist, is also exhibiting for the first time outside of
Mexico. He finds the most joy in watching others interact with the sculptures.
“When people see the art and get excited, that gets me excited,” he said, through an interpreter. “I get so much enjoyment from letting people see something they’ve never seen before.”
He isn’t the only one to be overwhelmed by the finished product.
“All 48 pieces are absolutely beautiful, and they’ve exceeded my expectations,” LaFond said. “You can talk about something for a year, and until you actually see it, you don’t know what to expect. And when I saw them in person, they blew me away.”
Each sculpture will be on display along with the name of the work and the artist who created it. There is no additional charge for the exhibition, just the regular parking fees for Cantigny Park.
“I grew up in the area, and our family has been coming to Cantigny for a long time,” Ramirez said. “This is a first-class facility. It’s beautiful. So for us, to bring these artists here, it’s taking everything to another level. It’s an honor and a pleasure for us to have this art at Cantigny.”