I should have stopped at the Museo de la Filosofia Esencial (MUFE) months ago, when I walked by a large sculpture of a jaguar made out of gun components, which sat in front of a white house in Guadalajara’s Colonia Americana.
That would have solved my subsequent confusion as to exactly what the museum was. By the time I made it inside the eight-year-old museum for my appointment with its owner and founder, Alvaro Cuevas, the jaguar out front had been replaced by a large, less striking, white sculpture. I entered the first of a half dozen beautifully appointed, stark rooms done in white and other neutral colors, and filled with framed paintings and prints, medium-sized sculptures of twisted trees, virgins of Guadalupe, and more—all somewhat enigmatic to the casual viewer.
Meeting Cuevas in his mostly black office, I was introduced to more enigmas, such as diagrams and questions in large gray letters on the white walls of other rooms—Quien soy? Donde estoy?—and answers—Yo soy mi mas profundo deseo. These stark phrases, along with sculptures, painting, prints and jewelry organized in “collections” as Cuevas calls them, make up the bulk of works in this combination museum, gallery and shared studio.
Cuevas, who studied at the Jesuit university in Guadalajara (ITESO) and in Spain, explained that he examines topics—art, education, health—and that his conclusions, inexpressible in words, are manifested in his art. He also invites collaborations with other artists, such as Gildardo Gallo, whose large—and enigmatic—photographs lining walls in one studio/gallery were more like surrealistic paintings. Another artist was moving work in and out of a truck the day I was there.
Cuevas’s collections include “Arboles Genealogicos,” “Amorte” (dealing with life and death) and more. The jaguar sculpture that first drew my attention is part of “Impactos que dejan huella” (Impacts that leave a mark). Another sculpture in that collection reflects the killing of Archbishop Posadas of Guadalajara in 1993. It depicts a large empty cross, its shape defined by a surrounding assembly of guns arranged to suggest a fingerprint. (Fingerprints are a theme in many of collections at MUFE.)
Cuevas explained that 11 tons of confiscated weapons were delivered to him by SEDENA (Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional) for use in his work and he is not permitted to sell the sculptures made from these guns. “Rugido de Jaguar” (Roar of Jaguar) has been moved to Mexico City outside the Camara de Diputados (Chamber of Deputies), where it has created a stir.
Cuevas’s mostly black painting, “Diossoid,” depicting Jesus with a third eye and an inscrutable numerical diagram on the surface of his heart resulted in a request from a priest that Cuevas print an explanation in a newspaper. He did so, though it would seem to have tested his modus operandi of allowing his work to speak for itself. But Cuevas clearly does not shy away from the artistic tradition that flirts with controversy.
MUFE, Museo de la Filosofia Esencial, Calle Prisciliano Sanchez 1078, 333 826 0430. Open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Last admission at 5 p.m. Free admission. www.mufe.mx.