Joining forces with the Consulate General of Mexico, the Mexican Cultural Institute, and Mexico City’s Museo de Arte Moderno, Rockefeller Center is transforming itself into a true citadel of Mexican culture to celebrate Día De Los Muertos, the Mexican “Day of the Dead.” With a primary focus on historic and contemporary forms of Mexican art, the celebration features a series of exhibitions featuring an array of artwork and sculpture stretching throughout the New York City landmark, as well as a pop-up “tianguis”, an open-air market, with a variety of vendors selling Mexican food, tequila, traditional clothing, and indigenous textiles.
Presented by the Consulate General of Mexico, the Mexican Cultural Institute, and the Posada Art Foundation, 10 Rockefeller Plaza—located on the west side of the complex—hosts an exhibition celebrating the 170th birthday of famed Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada. Posada, a lithographer, and political cartoonist by trade, is most famous for his creation of the image most closely associated with the celebration of Dia De Los Muertos: the highly recognizable “La Calavera Catrina”.
The highlight of the exhibition is located on the soaring Top of the Rock Observation Deck, perched 70 stories above Manhattan. Thronged with sightseers, the Deck is the unlikely home of a spectacular exhibition of 15 “Catrina” sculptures crafted in the studio of Cesar Menchaca. Crafted from epoxy resin and plasticine, the vibrant figures are diligently hand-crafted and hand-painted, with each sculpture employing approximately three million glass beads glued one at a time. While centered in Posada’s original drawings and the traditions of the indigenous Huichol people of Mexico, the sculptures have a decidedly modern bent, depicting figures from American and Mexican culture including Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Diego Rivera, Edward Hopper, Frida Kahlo, and Charlie Chaplain.
Also on display at the iconic Center Plaza is a large “ofrenda”, the traditional Día De Los Muertos altar which mixes Catholic and pre-Columbian traditions and classically includes photos, candles, and offerings related to of the deceased’s favorite foods, drinks, and pastimes. Flanked by sculptures, The Rockefeller Center ofrenda is dedicated to the lives and achievements of Mexico’s modern artists, and is part of a larger celebration surrounding the publication of MONUMENTAL: The Public Dimension of Sculpture 1927-1979—written by Pedro Reyes and published by the Museo de Arte Moderno— as well as the exhibit of the same name.