Carlos H. Matos and Lucas Cantú founded Tezontle in 2014. Tezontle identifies with Mexico’s Prehispanic heritage and the abstract work of the Mexican modernists of the mid-20th Century. The artists work by curating found objects with self-made ones in the process of generating innovative, formal, and material narratives. This working method is independent of scale; when the scale becomes irrelevant, the sculptural becomes the architectural and vice versa.
While based in Mexico City, Tezontle’s recent projects have been showcased internationally, including “Rise and Fall” at Richard Neutra’s VDL House in Los Angeles, California; “Almost Solid Light” at Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York; “Prima Materia” an off-site exhibition by PEANA in New York curated by Viridiana Mayagoitia; “Experimental Cycles” Residency at Wilfredo Prieto’s Studio, Havana; and “Piedras Vivas” at PEANA in Monterrey, Mexico. Among other projects, Carlos and Lucas also teach and are co-founders of the Architectural Association’s experimental concrete workshop ‘AAVS Las Pozas’ that takes place every summer in the Huasteca Jungle and serves as a research platform that aims to forge links between craft and culture in the town of Xilitla.
Galleries: Peana
Articles: an interview with Tezontle in PIN-UP, a biannual magazine for architectural entertainment.
Support: Tezontle’s residency is made possible with support from The Rockefeller Brothers Fund and PEANA.
