Andy Medina Hijacks Western Symbols in ‘MEX I CAN'
The artist reworks familiar public symbols to explore Mexican identity and heritage.
Summary
Andy Medina’s 'MEX I CAN' at John Doe Gallery reworks familiar public symbols to explore Mexican identity and heritage.
The exhibition blends pre-Columbian references with street signage, streetwear and pop culture through Medina’s signature cultural remixing.
Works from his 'Superarme' project and tributes to Mexican motorsport icons highlight a vision of Mexico that is adaptive, global and constantly evolving.
Hailing from Oaxaca, Mexico, contemporary artist Andy Medina has built a practice around reexamining the symbols and visual language associated with Mexican identity. Working across signage, installation, printmaking, textiles and more, Medina dismantles familiar cultural codes and rebuilds them through his own lens. His latest exhibition, MEX I CAN, at Los Angeles’ John Doe Gallery pushes that approach further, hijacking public symbols and Western iconography to reaffirm the visual traditions of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.
Step inside John Doe and the gallery immediately feels like a brightly lit intersection, filled with road signs, reflective surfaces and fragments of public street ephemera. Look closer, however, and those familiar symbols begin to shift. A conventional hazard sign, for example, has been reworked to resemble the silhouette of a Mesoamerican pyramid, one of several instances of Medina’s cultural jamming throughout the show.
The exhibition’s title serves as both wordplay and affirmation. “MEX I CAN” speaks to the plurality of Mexican identity and its ability to continually adapt, particularly within Mexican-American communities navigating political and cultural pressures in the United States. “Today more than ever, MEX I CAN takes on relevance as a critical-political statement in a struggle where the identity of many is denied, as is the case with the Mexican-American community. Adaptability and resilience prevail,” Medina said in a statement.
Also featured are works from Medina’s Superarme project, which appropriates the unmistakable visual identity of streetwear giant Supreme. But the gesture is less about parodying a recognizable logo than using its familiarity as an entry point. Medina replaces the branding with his own wordplay, drawing attention to a version of Mexico shaped by overlapping cultures, histories and aesthetics.
Several works pay tribute to Mexican Formula 1 drivers Sergio “Checo” Pérez and Pedro Rodríguez, extending Medina’s exploration of national identity into the world of motorsport. “The objective is to update the scope of Mexican culture and its profile in the world of competition,” Medina explained.
Across MEX I CAN, Medina reframes Mexican identity as something fluid rather than fixed. By remixing everything from traffic signs and streetwear logos to racing culture and ancient visual traditions, he presents a Mexico that is constantly evolving, absorbing global influences while remaining firmly rooted in its own history.
John Doe Gallery
107 E 11th St.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
