Founded in 2014 in response to the absence of formal structures supporting illustration in Mexico, Gran Salón México brings together established, emerging and student illustrators through an annual fair, editorial initiatives, education and an agency that connects artists with professional opportunities.
Illustration in Mexico is widely practiced and often unsupported. When Maru Aguzzi founded Gran Salón México in 2014, there were no formal structures providing visibility, circulation or professional infrastructure for the country’s illustrators. The platform was built to change that, and over a decade later it operates as one of the most significant spaces for illustration in Latin America.
The annual fair is the project’s most visible form. Each edition brings together a broad and carefully curated selection of established and emerging illustrators from across Mexico, with the curatorial process focused on building a diverse panorama of contemporary visual languages that prioritises authorship and materiality. Rather than centering on prints, the fair foregrounds original hand-made works, actively challenging the assumption that illustration is a purely reproducible medium. “The fair is a space for illustration to be collected and valued, not just consumed,” Aguzzi says. “We want people to understand that a drawing can be as singular and as precious as any other work of art.” The exhibition functions simultaneously as a marketplace and as a cultural argument.
Alongside the fair, Gran Salón México develops editorial and educational initiatives that extend its reach across different stages of the illustration field. The agency it operates connects artists with clients and commissions, generating professional opportunities and supporting careers beyond the context of the fair itself. This structure allows the project to move fluidly between independent artistic practice and applied work, holding both without one subordinating the other. “We exist to build the conditions that illustrators need to work,” Aguzzi says. “That means exhibitions, yes, but also education, publishing, and real professional connections.”
The fair has expanded from its original venue to cities across Mexico and beyond, each new context activating new audiences and building connections outside its founding community.
Maru Aguzzi is the founder and director of Gran Salón México, an independent platform dedicated to contemporary illustration in Mexico and beyond.
Website: gran.salon Instagram: @gransalonmexico
Gran Salón México, founded 2014. Annual illustration fair, editorial initiatives, education and agency. Photography: Jonathan León.
