Community Building/ Construcción de Comunidad
The project started as an empty lot.
I’ve been building a gallery @galeria25merida adjacent to my house in Merida, MX for the past year. It will open at the end of January, as part of the first, Week of Art, Yucatan, aka WAY.
It’s exciting to build something from scratch, and of course, challenging but I’m working with the same team that built my house @casacisternamerida starting, in May of 2021, contractor, Russell Zumarraga and architect, Erik Gonzales of @gonzalesestudio_. So, it’s a familiar process.
On a Zoom call from Upstate New York with (l to r) contractor Russell Zumarraga, architect Erik Gonzales and lighting designer/ Smart Home expert Manolo Cicero.
When I started designing and building my house, I wrote multiple blog posts documenting the entire process (which lasted two years), but this time around I am bringing you into the story mid-way through. My house is very brutalist in design and the gallery is in the same vein. I used the circle throughout for doors, windows and an oculus in the main space and discovered my appreciation for the inspiring Italian architect, Carlo Scapa, during the process.
The property is attached to mine and fronts a side street Calle 25 (hence Galeria 25) My gallery in Upstate New York, which is also my studio @speeglestudio, is on Route 52 (so, @gallery_52). I love numbers and have a series called ‘Better Numbers’, all my favorite numbers. I have a 52, as I was 52 at the time I made the series. Travel & Leisure just published their 2025 list of the 25 Best Cities in the World and what number do you think Merida is? 25.
The facade will be a living wall of Thumbergia vines. Renderings, @gonzalesestudio_
A little bit about the design. At first, it was going to be a gallery, then a guest house for my dear friend Cary Richardson. But when Cary passed away a year ago, I started to rethink the project and I decided to build both and stack an artist studio and accommodations (plus a pool) on top of the gallery. But as the gallery completion, plus the facade, is scheduled first, – more on the upstairs later.
The Brion Tomb in San Vito d'Altivole, Italy, designed by Venetian architect, Carlo Scarpa.
Lighting design, Manolo Cicero. Rendering, Gonzales Estudio.
The gallery itself has five and a half meter ceilings (nearly 18 feet) as well as a mezzanine platform for audio visual and performances, an office, storage, kitchenette, half bath, and an alleyway/ lighting installation space that is a side street entrance to Casita Pop, my guest house behind the main house. It’s not huge, but the tall ceilings make it feel somewhat grand. The model for it is my fantasy Chelsea New York gallery, which, these days, I could never afford to even rent for a single month, let alone own.
The idea for the first exhibition came to me a year ago. I have a group of established artist pals here that I admire, but I didn’t want to contribute to an expat art bubble. The plan for the gallery is to make connections with the local art community, so I asked Monica Rezman, Jeff Colson, Ric Best, Terrence Jon and Claribel Calderius to identify a local artist that they wanted to showcase and/or collaborate with.
Ric is collaborating with Luis Escobar, Claribel is working with her daughter, Olivia Castillo and son, Antonio Castillo (their Dad is renowned artist, Marco Castillo). Jeff chose Sebastian Davila, Terrence is collaborating with Francisco Pechan, Monica is highlighting the work of Genoveva Kelleher and myself, Trey Speegle, I am collaborating with Andrea Pasos.
And more synchronicity started to happen when Week of Art, Yucatan, @way.com.mx as it coincided with the gallery opening. Our opening is January 29, and we are on the schedule for the Gallery tour on January 31, from 10-7.
Also on the horizon is the benefit gala for the @BienaldeYucatan, on Friday January 30 and the closing party for WAY at @salongallos, Saturday, January 31.
See you somewhere soon, I hope. –Trey Speegle
