They call him “Jesus of the Ghetto.” The squee-gee kids and small-time drug pushers of Mexico City’s toughest neighbourhood have accepted artist Mauricio Limón into their tightly-knit community. It’s a risky move. “Someone who looks like me is often kidnapped, I don’t look like the typical Mexican,” the artist confides over a bottle of beer. I can see why. With his pale skin and long, curly red hair which tumbles past his shoulders, he is not the typical Mexican type. But with his easy smile and his amazing talent for sketching, he managed to befriend a group of urban desperados in an effort to gain a glimpse of the underbelly of Mexican society.

Limón’s current solo show at Laroche/Joncas titled Versus (buscando la sombra del arbol / seeking the shade of the tree) consists of 36 watercolour and ink drawings, two fold-out sketch books, and a short video. In his works the artist exposes the players of Mexico’s drug trade, from the small-time criminals to the corporate drug lords in their expensive business suits. Exposed – literally: Limón strips his figures of their pinstripe suits and gangsta-gear, reducing them to their common denominator. But even at this most basic level you can still tell the privileged class from the street thug. In Limón’s  video, which features his street gang, one member pulls up his shirt to reveal a massive scar streaking across his torso – the remains of a bullet. He wears it like a medal.

The drug trade’s stark reality extends into the dreamy imagery of some of Limón’s watercolour sketches. Drug-induced hallucinations let body-parts grow into alien looking, flesh eating plants, heads turn into poppy pods. The delicate renderings are nearly pretty, belying the dark truth they depict. Mixed in with these images are portraits of the squee-gee kids and their families, drawn by the artist as a gesture of friendship, the currency to gain acceptance into the group. Despite the small size and simple lines of these drawings they are remarkably lively, nearly animated. According to the artist, most of the portraits have been turned into T-Shirts which are now worn by the family members.

Mauricio Limón, the Jesus of the Ghetto, gives a face to the Mexican drug trade and humanizes those living on the bottom rung of society’s ladder. It is a unique insight.

Galerie Laroche/Joncas, space 410
Mauricio Limón
Versus (buscando la sombra del arbol)
October 14 – November 2, 2011
www.larochejoncas.com