Nevus

Exploring personal strength and beauty through the lenses of politics, history, and nationality

Oct 23 – 28, 2025 / El Hub, Mexico City
Installation View of Nevus, three Works on Paper by Carsten Becker

Photo: Carlos Álvarez-Montero

Installation view of Nevus at El Hub, 2025

Photo: Fernando Mainero

Installation view of Nevus at El Hub, 2025

Photo: Carlos Álvarez-Montero

Installation view of Nevus at El Hub, 2025

Photo: Carlos Álvarez-Montero

Installation view of Nevus at El Hub, 2025

Photo: Fernando Mainero

Installation view of Nevus at El Hub, 2025

Photo: Fernando Mainero

TGL investigates the state-mandated standards of the former GDR. From the original 1977 TGL color register (from the estate of East German industrial designer Lutz Rudolph), I reproduce selected East German standard colors as enamels, apply them to original TGL-standardized parts, and photograph the results. The works shown here are unique pieces on paper – created from color tests that document the material presence and historical weight of a color that was once compulsory across an entire country.

Nevus
October 23–28, 2025
 
Opening reception
Thursday, October 23, 6 pm
 
El Hub
Calle de Mesones 86, 06090 Mexico City, MX
Artists
Carlos Álvarez-Montero (MX), Carsten Becker (DE), Brenda Castro (MX), Alfredo Esparza-Cárdenas (MX), Stella Geppert (DE), Kathrin Köster (DE), Sean Noyce (US), Luz Ricano (MX), Alystair Rogers (US), Alberto Rodríguez (MX), Vabianna Santos (US), Katya Usvitsky (US)
 

About the Exhibition

Ojo Arte (Mexico City), in collaboration with Frontviews (Berlin) and Noysky Projects (Los Angeles), presents Nevus, a multidisciplinary exhibition featuring artists from Mexico City, Berlin, and Los Angeles. The exhibition is part of B-LA-M, a three-year cultural exchange designed to deepen dialogue between the artist-run communities in Berlin, Los Angeles, and Mexico City.

The term nevus, also commonly known as a “beauty mark”, evokes a feature that alternates between allure and imperfection. Unlike the common mole or wart, which is often deemed undesirable, the nevus is paradoxically both a blemish and an ornamentation. Its beauty is reliant on social norms and historical standards as much as individual perception. Throughout history, the nevus has been imitated and idealized, serving as symbols of status, individuality, and distinction that highlights their otherwise “unblemished” outer beauty.

In this vein, Nevus brings together works that mark the lived experience of the artist, drawn from personal histories shaped by cultural, political, and geographic forces. Their narratives include acts of resilience, belonging, and transformation. Each work operates as a “mark” that alternates between identity and environment; beauty and imperfection; and individual and community.

As these disparate expressions meet, shared patterns begin to emerge, revealing a glimpse into the ways identity is inscribed upon the body, the mind, and the environment. Nevus thus becomes an exploration of how the personal becomes shared, how the invisible reveals, and how the mark can transform the vulnerable into a source of power. The exhibition invites reflection on identity as a territory in continuous negotiation, where the individual and the collective intertwine to give meaning to our contemporary existence.

Announcement

Invitation for Nevus