anonymous gallery is pleased to announce Angry Young Men, Angry New Deals, the gallery’s second solo exhibition with Wendy Cabrera Rubio. The exhibition examines the nationalist state programs of the New Deal in the United States and the Mexican Renaissance in Mexico during the early 20th century and underscores how state-sponsored art of the early 20th century - once used to shape national identity - echoes today, as the U.S. confronts the rise of authoritarian politics and the persistent risk of culture being mobilized as propaganda.
Her research begins with a reflection on a series of murals painted at the Museo Regional de Michoacán by US painters Reuben Kadish, Ryah Ludins, and Philip Guston. The exhibition situates Wendy Cabrera Rubio’s work in dialogue with a pivotal historical moment when art and politics were tightly bound together. In both the United States and Mexico during the early 20th century, governments invested in public art as a way of shaping collective identity: the New Deal in the U.S. supported murals, photography, and theater as part of a nationalist cultural program, while the Mexican Renaissance, following the Revolution, turned to monumental muralism as a vehicle for defining post-revolutionary ideals.
By revisiting the murals at the Museo Regional de Michoacán - painted not by Mexican muralists but by U.S. artists Kadish, Ludins, and Guston - Wendy uncovers a lesser-known intersection of these two projects. These works become a lens through which she asks: How did cultural diplomacy, political leadership, and state-sponsored art intersect across borders? Figures such as Lázaro Cárdenas in Mexico and Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the U.S. not only shaped the political destinies of their nations but also influenced the trajectory of Modern Art by using it as a tool for social and national narrative, as well as international exchange.
The exhibition reveals points of contact between the two nationalist projects, emphasizing the shared formal strategies and ideological frameworks that shaped a visual culture instrumental in defining the social identities of both nations. By positioning the mural as both a vehicle of utopian aspiration and a tool of ideological control, it underscores how art was mobilized to construct and contest collective identity.
Angry Young Men, Angry New Deals introduces a new body of work by Wendy Cabrera Rubio that draws from a constellation of historical sources, including propagandistic murals, textiles, and official archives. Through an installation that brings together textiles, puppetry, video, bronze sculpture, and performance, Cabrera Rubio articulates a critical space for reexamining national imagery and the visual codes that continue to shape collective identity. The exhibition’s works were curated by Jairo Antonio Hoyos and Tan Uranga. The works are made in collaboration with artists Nicolas Janssen, Andi García, Sbethlanna González, Daniel Uranga, Antonio Ponce, Alejandra Lomar & Patricia Rubio.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Wendy Cabrera Rubio b. 1993, lives and works in Mexico City, Mexico.
Exhibitions of Cabrera Rubio’s work have taken place at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCASB); The Americas Society (AS/COA); University of Puget Sound; Museo Jumex; kurimanzutto; anonymous gallery; PEANA; Nordenhake; Lodos; General Expenses; and Museo del Chopo. Cabrera Rubio has upcoming institutional exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Monterrey (MARCO); Museo Universitario del Chopo; and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Barcelona (MACBA)