Patricia Martín

Patricia Martín (born in Mexico City) is a Mexican independent art curator. Since the 1990s, she has been boosting and promoting contemporary art collections in Mexico and abroad. Her job has been crucial for the acknowledgement and promotion of Mexican contemporary art in the local and international scene. Currently at the head of Casa Wabi Foundation, curating independent exhibitions for artists such as Ugo Rondinone and acting as a consultant for various public and private collections; she has created, managed and directed one of the most important contemporary art collections and foundations in Latin America: The Júmex Collection.

She also has a weekly art column in the Mexican daily paper El Financiero.

Martín began her professional career as an art director for movie productions, working in over 80 projects involving advertisements, music videos and feature films both in Mexico and overseas. To keep learning from new and different sources, she moved to the United Kingdom in 1994. She enrolled in the Master’s program in Postwar and Contemporary Art at the University of Manchester; where she earned a master's degree in 1997. Between 1995 and 1997, she directed the research, registry and documentation program for Lisson Gallery’s 30th anniversary & commemorative project in London.

In 2014, together with NYC based artist Bosco Sodi, Patricia contributes as director creation of "'Fundación Casa Wabi'". A social project composed of an extensive artistic residency program, a film program and a sculpture and botanical garden. This project has the goal to promote a creative exchane of ideas between artists and the surrounding communities.

The name Casa Wabi comes from the Japanese concept wabi sabi, which means the art of de buscar la belleza en la imperfección, en el accidente y en la profundidad de la naturaleza.

The Foundation grounds, near Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca (in the Mexican pacific coastline) were designed and overlooked by Japanese master architect Tadao Ando, facilities include six dorms and a working studio, as well as the 90 acre sculpture and botanical garden.

This Foundation seeks to be a space of interaction between artists of all disciplines and also a valuable community centre to the local nearby communities. In keeping with the needs of its location social work and environmental conscience will always be of vital importance to Casa Wabi.

In 1997, Martín started to imagine what three years later was known as La Colección Jumex, one of the most influential and visionary contemporary art programs in Latin America. From 1997 to 2005, she was its director and curator; under her supervision, both the exhibition hall and the warehouses to safely store the works of art were built in Ecatepec, on the outskirts of Mexico City. The building complex also houses a contemporary art public library where seminars, workshops and other educational programs regularly take place.

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Wikipedia