Ecos Estridentes
Germán Cueto, Anna Khachiyan, Mathieu Malouf
Galerie Pepe is pleased to present Ecos Estridentes an exhibition of works by Germán Cueto (1893 - 1975), Anna Khachiyan (b. 1985) and Mathieu Malouf (b. 1984). February 4th, 2024 - April 5th, 2025
Strident Echoes brings together selections from the estate of Germán Cueto with new works by Anna Khachiyan and Mathieu Malouf in a dynamic confrontation of primitivism and fauvism, grounded in the revolutionary fervor of Stridentism.
Emerging in 1920s Mexico, Stridentism (Estridentismo) was a radical avant-garde movement that fused elements of Futurism, Dada, and Cubism with a uniquely Mexican sensibility, embracing mechanical progress, urban chaos, and the raw energy of popular culture. Cueto, a central figure in the movement, translated these ideas into sculptural forms that oscillate between the geometric and the organic, channeling pre-Columbian and African influences while celebrating modernist fragmentation.
His legacy is echoed in this exhibition through Malouf’s penguin paintings—mutated bodies caught in a state of excess, simultaneously primitive and hypermodern. The latest in a series begun in 2023, these works mark a new low for the artist, both conceptually and technically.
Meanwhile, Khachiyan’s feminist approach bypasses the mythologies of the avant-garde and taps into the emotionalism and romance that often underpin artistic rebellion. In this interplay, the latent homoerotic themes of the gallery are channeled through the lens of motherhood in delicately rendered nudes and textual images inspired by Alcoholics Anonymous.
In the midst of all this—color runs wild, forms dissolve, and the boundaries between intellect and impulse, past and future, collapse into a heady, feverish vision of art as both an ecstatic release and a site of critique. Ecos Estridentes reanimates the disruptive energy of modernism, questioning whether its radical gestures still hold power or if they, too, have succumbed to the intoxication of their own myth.
Strident Echoes brings together selections from the estate of Germán Cueto with new works by Anna Khachiyan and Mathieu Malouf in a dynamic confrontation of primitivism and fauvism, grounded in the revolutionary fervor of Stridentism.
Emerging in 1920s Mexico, Stridentism (Estridentismo) was a radical avant-garde movement that fused elements of Futurism, Dada, and Cubism with a uniquely Mexican sensibility, embracing mechanical progress, urban chaos, and the raw energy of popular culture. Cueto, a central figure in the movement, translated these ideas into sculptural forms that oscillate between the geometric and the organic, channeling pre-Columbian and African influences while celebrating modernist fragmentation.
His legacy is echoed in this exhibition through Malouf’s penguin paintings—mutated bodies caught in a state of excess, simultaneously primitive and hypermodern. The latest in a series begun in 2023, these works mark a new low for the artist, both conceptually and technically.
Meanwhile, Khachiyan’s feminist approach bypasses the mythologies of the avant-garde and taps into the emotionalism and romance that often underpin artistic rebellion. In this interplay, the latent homoerotic themes of the gallery are channeled through the lens of motherhood in delicately rendered nudes and textual images inspired by Alcoholics Anonymous.
In the midst of all this—color runs wild, forms dissolve, and the boundaries between intellect and impulse, past and future, collapse into a heady, feverish vision of art as both an ecstatic release and a site of critique. Ecos Estridentes reanimates the disruptive energy of modernism, questioning whether its radical gestures still hold power or if they, too, have succumbed to the intoxication of their own myth.
Germán Cueto, Máscara primitiva abstracta, 1947, steel wire mesh and paste, 32.5 x 21 x 13 cm
Anna Khachiyan, AA Paintings, 2025, colored marker on paper, 51.5 x 44 cm each
Mathieu Malouf, El pensador, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 80 cm
Germán Cueto, Velero, n.d., enamel on steel plate, 28 x 22. 5 cm
Germán Cueto, Rostro abstracto, 1947, steel wire and aluminum, 23. 5 x 19.5 x 7 cm
Anna Khachiyan, Cherub Peeing, 2025, pencil and acrylic on paper, 33.5 x 27.5 cm
Mathieu Malouf, Autorretrato, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 80 cm
Germán Cueto, El negro (Ugarte), n.d., oil on cardboard, 36 x 25 x 12.5 cm
Germán Cueto, Dos caras, n.d., colored pencil on paperl, 27 x 21 cm
Anna Khachiyan, Standing Cherub , 2025, pencil and acrylic on paper, 33.5 x 27.5 cm
Germán Cueto, Don Quijote, n.d., metal sheet, 22.3 x 18 x 7.5 cm
Mathieu Malouf, El beso, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 80 cm
Anna Khachiyan, Saint Sebastian, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 50 x 40 cm
Mathieu Malouf, La pipa azul, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 120 x 100 cm
Germán Cueto, Máscara (Dormido), n.d., Terracota, 12.5 x 9.3 x 4 cm
Germán Cueto (1883 – 1975) was a Mexican artist. He was part of the initial wave of artistic activity following the Mexican Revolution and one of the main figures of the Estridentistas. However, his stay in Europe from 1927 to 1932 moved him into more European and more abstract work, especially sculpture. While he had a number of exhibitions in Mexico during his life including a retrospective at the Museo de Arte Moderno in 1965, he did not have the kind of success that many of his contemporaries did as he did not follow the then dominant themes or styles of Mexican Muralism movement. His work was considered to be avant-garde and is considered to be the first Mexican abstract artist, creating masks and sculptures of wood, wire, plastic, sheet metal, ceramic, electrical wire and other materials, traditional and non-traditional.
Anna Khachiyan (b. 1985, Moscow, Soviet Union) is an American cultural critic, writer, and co-host of the Red Scare podcast with Dasha Nekrasova, based out of New York City. In 1990, she immigrated to the United States with her parents and was raised in New Jersey. She is of Armenian, Russian and Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Khachiyan graduated Rutgers University in 2006, studying economics and art history and graduating with honors. She went on to pursue a master's degree in art history at New York University, as well as a PhD in Soviet architecture, completing the former and dropping out of the latter.
The cultural commentary podcast Red Scare has been associated with both the dirtbag left and the new right as well as the subculture surrounding Dimes Square. It covers current topics in American culture and politics in both a comedic and serious tone. Khachiyan's commentary and critique of neoliberalism and feminism are heavily influenced by historian Christopher Lasch and social critic Camille Paglia. She has also been influenced by Mark Fisher and Michel Houellebecq.
Mathieu Malouf (b. 1984, Montréal, CA) lives and works in New York. He has been featured in exhibitions at institutions such as Swiss Institute, New York (2018); Le Consortium, Dijon (2018); LUMA Foundation, Zürich (2017); Artists Space, New York (2017); Stavanger Art Museum (2014); Kunsthalle Lüneburg, (2014); and SculptureCenter, New York (2012). Recent solo shows include House of Gaga Los Angeles and Nahmad Contemporary, New York. Work by the artist is included in museum collections worldwide, including the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Big thanks to Fomento Cultural del Norte Potosino AC for their support in organizing this exhibition.
The cultural commentary podcast Red Scare has been associated with both the dirtbag left and the new right as well as the subculture surrounding Dimes Square. It covers current topics in American culture and politics in both a comedic and serious tone. Khachiyan's commentary and critique of neoliberalism and feminism are heavily influenced by historian Christopher Lasch and social critic Camille Paglia. She has also been influenced by Mark Fisher and Michel Houellebecq.
Mathieu Malouf (b. 1984, Montréal, CA) lives and works in New York. He has been featured in exhibitions at institutions such as Swiss Institute, New York (2018); Le Consortium, Dijon (2018); LUMA Foundation, Zürich (2017); Artists Space, New York (2017); Stavanger Art Museum (2014); Kunsthalle Lüneburg, (2014); and SculptureCenter, New York (2012). Recent solo shows include House of Gaga Los Angeles and Nahmad Contemporary, New York. Work by the artist is included in museum collections worldwide, including the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Big thanks to Fomento Cultural del Norte Potosino AC for their support in organizing this exhibition.
Amsterdam 123 B, Col. Hipódromo CondesaMexico City, Mexico 06100