Colectivo Subterráneos

Colectivo Subterráneos
FormationAugust 2021 (2021-08)
TypeArt collective
PurposeActivism
HeadquartersLa Casa Subterranea
Location
Fields
  • Street art
  • printmaking
  • muralism
Membership30+
Key people
Mario Guzmán (mentor)
Websitesubterraneosoaxaca.com

Colectivo Subterráneos (transl. Underground Collective), also known as simply Subterráneos,[1] is an art collective based in Oaxaca, Mexico.[2] It uses artivism and guerrilla art to address social issues.[2][3] Their work is wheatpasted on the walls of Oaxaca's historic district and has been exhibited in Mexico, Canada, and the United States.[1][4][5]

The collective works out of La Casa Subterranea (transl. The Underground House), their workshop and gallery[4][6] in the center of Oaxaca,[7] and runs Escuela de Arte para el Pueblo (transl. Art School for the People), a free art school.[2][7] The Escuela teaches artistic technique, theory, and the business of art.[2][4][6][8]

Artwork

The collective creates murals, woodblock prints, and large-scale linocut prints, and uses graffiti and stencil techniques in street interventions.[2][3][1][9] It often depicts traditional Mexican and Indigenous characters, such as jaguar warriors and street vendors, and revolutionaries like Emiliano Zapata,[8] addressing such issues as xenophobia, including anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism, and challenging corporate takeover of land and public spaces.[2][3]

Colectivo Subterráneos' influences include the Taller de Gráfica Popular, printmakers Leopoldo Méndez and José Guadalupe Posada, and muralists José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Diego Rivera.[8][10] The work is visually simple so that it can be easily understood by broad audiences.[8]

History

The 2006 social and political unrest in Oaxaca, which left 17 people dead, led to the formation of several art collectives.[3][5] A November 2019 workshop in mural painting taught by Taller Artístico Comunitario (transl. Community Art Workshop) formalized into Colectivo Subterráneos by August 2021, with six members.[2][4][8][10] The group now has over thirty members[2] of varied backgrounds, including designers, teachers, writers, and social scientists.[8]

Printmaker Mario Guzmán, a member of the Assembly of Revolutionary Artists of Oaxaca (ASARO), is the group's mentor and teacher.[1][4][10] Guzmán has said that "it is important to create quality work, so people embrace it before the government comes and takes it down".[10]

Exhibitions

  • 2022: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words, Penticton Art Gallery, British Columbia, Canada[9]
  • 2022–2024: Las Calles de Oaxaca, Lesley University's College of Art and Design, Massachusetts, U.S.;[11] Erie Art Museum, Pennsylvania, U.S.[1]
  • 2024–2025: Oaxacan Art and Politics: The Ungovernable Aesthetics of Colectivo Subterráneos, Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, U.S.[2]
  • 2025: Borderlands Visions: Anti-Border Futures, Centro Cultural de la Raza, San Diego, California, U.S.; extended at The Woo Studios[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Las Calles de Oaxaca". Erie Art Museum. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Oaxaca Ingobernable: Aesthetics, Politics, and Art from Below". Maxwell Museum of Anthropology. University of New Mexico. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d "Oaxacan Art and Politics: The Ungovernable Aesthetics of Colectivo Subterráneos". University of New Mexico. Ortiz Center. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Doceava Exposición Simultánea Virtual – Entre Diablos y Borrachos" [Twelfth Simultaneous Virtual Exhibition – Among Devils and Drunks]. Casa de la Cultura Oaxaqueña (in Spanish). 15 November 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  5. ^ a b Brar, Moni (5 September 2022). "Revolutionary Art". Galleries West. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Catálogo: Los Nadies" [Catalog: The Nobodies] (in Spanish). Dirección Desconcentrada de Cultura de Cusco. 10 March 2023. Archived from the original on 9 November 2025. Retrieved 15 January 2026. Por esta razón, el colectivo creó un espacio llamado Casa Subterránea, que es una escuela-taller y galería, donde se desarrollan talleres de dibujo, grabado y pintura mural a todos aquellos jóvenes que deseen desarrollar este oficio, así como, su potencial creativo, espiritual y estético; de tal manera que puedan ganarse la vida y resolver sus necesidades básicas.
  7. ^ a b c "Centro Exhibitions". Centro Cultural De La Raza. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Bacher, Federico. "Los Nadies (The Nobodies)". Institute for Public Art. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  9. ^ a b "A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words". Penticton Art Gallery. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  10. ^ a b c d Graham de La Rosa, Michael; Gilbert, Samuel (26 March 2017). "Oaxaca's Revolutionary Street Art". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 24 October 2025.
  11. ^ "Upcoming Events". Lesley University. Archived from the original on 31 July 2024. Sep 8, 2022 – Dec 1, 2022, Las Calles de Oaxaca
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