MEET ALEJANDRO TRIGOS FROM MEXICO

While traveling in foreign countries, don't forget to meet your ambassador ! He/she will guide you to art spots and you will discover the culture in a more local way.

Hi Alejandro, can you tell us about your background. What did you study ?

I studied economics with a specialization in business and marketing strategies. I was lucky to match my professional abilities with my passion: arts; I worked for Fundación Televisa as Cultural Strategy Manager, operating the day-to-day activities and planning its cultural program and collection development. Later, as an independent professional, I was the VIP Program Coordinador for Material Art Fair (the most important emergent contemporary art fair in Mexico City) and started performing as consultant for artistic platforms (artist collectives, fairs and galleries) guiding them on both their project development and communications strategies. On 2019 I started the Sotheby’s Institute of Arts (in collaboration with Centro in Mexico City) Master Program in Arts Markets and Business, which influenced in formalizing my consulting firm under the label “ARTE Management”, taking advantage of the strong niche network and knowledge I have developed, providing PR & communications strategies, currently the only specialized agency for arts in Mexico.

Among your professional experiences, what is the one that you like the most ?

Working directly with artists and arts professionals. It is very rewarding to develop an honest and deep connection with artists in order to efficiently communicate their proposal and accurately develop interest and support with their stakeholders (from media, funding options to collectors) in order to encourage their careers and projects. Similarly, it is very important to have a close and respectful relationship with arts professionals (form both institutional staff and commercial entities) to promote business opportunities and collaborations. This type of networking validates your positioning within the scene and allows you to promote the local market potential …and possible International ventures.

What is your plan for the next months ?
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Since my firm is young, my priority is to keep growing my network and to consolidate locally as the PR option for the arts scene, evidencing success stories with my clients’ optimal performance while always selecting the right business partners (and clients) to work with which will allow me to maintain an excellent mutual quality standard. Since the arts and culture sector doesn’t have support from the government nowadays, it is very important for me to help and promote local initiatives in order to get their projects happen in an optimal way.
 
In your opinion, do you think the art market will change with our generation ? If yes, how ?

The change in the market (towards the digital field) is quite evident nowadays. Although the arts scene has always been reluctant to incursionase in the digital field, the recent pandemic forced its players to swift into the digital scene in order to reach their audiences, promote their projects and, most important, to get sources of income. Younger generations, already more costumed to online shopping, represented early adopters of internet-based art markets who will continue to boost this channel. But the two most important changes nowadays in the art market are, on hand hand, that more mature collectors who finally explored the online art-shopping experience (with quite larger money amounts). On the other hand, the fact that finally the prices are getting published and the market transparency will be beneficial for the market regulation and will encourage new collectors to get more confident towards begin acquiring artworks.
 
What are your favorite artists ?

I tend to admire artists from the abstract expressionism and conceptual movements or who got inspired by them. Jackson Pollock and Sol Lewitt are my old-school favorites and I am nowadays in love with Alicia Kwade.
From Mexico I am a big fan of Mario García Torres, Jose Dávila and Jorge Mendez Blake, relatively stablished artists with successful international careers, or younger ones such as Luis Hampshire, Christian Camacho and Allan Villavicencio.
 
Can you tell us a little bit more about your company ?

ARTE Management develops with artists and art professionals business and communications strategies, mostly around artistic projects development and/or their public relations tactics. It currently focus in Mexican contemporary arts and some relevant projects from other creative industries (film, collectible design, etc)


If the Young Art Club comes to Mexico, what places would you love to show to the members ?

I would organize a tour to Guadalajara, famous for being tequila’s birthplace and mariachi, which makes it an amazing tourist destination. Even though it doesn’t have many relevant museums, galleries or collections, many of the best most relevant Mexican artists are based here and their studios and independent exhibits contribute to a very exquisite and fresh arts experience. Additionally, a visit to Mexico City, heart of Mexican contemporary art scene and market, covering the leading institutions and commercial spaces which always have high-quality exhibitions.


Anything to add ? 
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Mexico is very close to the USA, both geographically and culturally, but I would like to promote artistic exchanges with French platforms because of the potential and values that both scenes have …and because it is my favorite culture in the world.