Fabián Cháirez

Fabián Cháirez (born 13 December 1987) is a Mexican plastic artist known for his paintings on sexuality and traditional masculinity (machismo). He is both a painter and sculptor. His work has been exhibited at the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Museo de Arte Moderno, and Museu de l'Art Prohibit. He has been based out of Mexico City since 2012.

Multiple paintings of his have caused controversy over their themes of queerness and the subversion of gender roles in contrast to their subjects, notably ''La Revolución, Chiapas, Mexico. His mother was a teacher, and he describes his father as being a charro. When he came out to his family, they took him to church, trying to change his sexuality. Before deciding to study art, he considered going into advertising. He attended the University of Sciences and Arts of Chiapas from 2007 to 2012, where he earned a degree in visual arts. He moved to Mexico City in 2012.

Cháirez says he became an artist as an escape, a way to embrace who he was and fight back. He points to a near-death experience he had around the age of 20 when he and his male partner were attacked with a knife as being important for his career development. The experience caused him to reflect on why and how people can hate others enough to kill them just because of who they are.

Early in his career, Cháirez painted murals, being involved with the graffiti scene in Chipas. His resin and fiber glass sculptures of legs, sometimes with penises, wearing high-heels are featured in LGBTQ bars throughout Mexico City; he dubbed them ''Tucked y untucked'', in reference to tucking. In 2015, he was offered to display an individual exhibition at the José María Velasco Gallery in Tepito after the original artist had cancelled last minute.

He takes pride in keeping his art what he describes as "democratic", being accessible in contrast to the perceived elitism that exists within the traditional fine arts. He sells his work and merchandise with images of his works on his website. His work is influenced by Ángel Zárraga, Saturnino Herrán, and neomexicanismo, an art movement originating in the 1980s characterized by the frequent use of iconic Mexican imagery.

Cháirez created the painting used as cover art for Chilean-Mexican musician Mon Laferte's 2023 single "Tenochtitlán". He also does drag under the name María Magdalena, which was his grandmother's name.

''La Revolución''

Cháirez's oil painting ''La Revolución posing pin-up style wearing only a pink sombrero and high heels made of pistols astride an erect horse. The work was exhibited at Marrakech Salón, a bar in Mexico City.

The work's inclusion in a 2019 exhibition titled ''Emiliano: Zapata después de Zapata'' () at the Palacio del Bellas Artes caused a national controversy. Its subversion of the traditional macho depictions of Zapata angered some, including the subject's descendants. Zapata's grandson, Jorge Zapata González, threatened to sue both the museum and Cháirez for defamation, claiming the work insinuated Zapata was gay and denigrated him. Cháirez also received death threats for the piece. On 10 December 2019, a group of around 200 protesters gathered at Bellas Artes, blocking its entrance and demanding that the work be removed or burned, some using homophobic slurs. Counterprotesters were also present, and the demonstrations ended in physical confrontations between the two sides. The museum promised to keep the work on display, regardless of any protests. President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador addressed the controversy at a press conference, rejecting the violence and the calls for the painting to be removed. The legal dispute between Jorge Zapata González and the museum was resolved, with the museum agreeing to remove the piece from any promotional materials and place a plaque next to the work expressing the Zapata family's disapproval of its content.

On 13 December 2019, Cháirez and around 300 supporters gathered at the Palacio, many dressed as feminine depictions of Zapata. During the protest Cháirez and the exhibition's curator Luis Vargas Santiago both expressed disapproval of the museum's concessions, but Cháirez also said that he understood the family,

In January 2020, the work was acquired by Spanish businessman and collector Tatxo Benet and put in his ''Colección de Arte Prohibido'' ().

The painting has become a symbol of struggle and pride for some in the Mexican LGBTQ community.

''La venida del Señor''

Cháirez's 2025 exhibition – : a ''double entendre'' that works in both languages – at the Academy of San Carlos of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) was composed of nine large oil paintings created between 2018 and 2023. He stated that the works were produced to draw "comparison between religious ecstasy and sexual ecstasy". Most of the paintings involved same-sex pairs fully clothed in traditional Catholic religious attire in homoerotic poses.

It faced backlash from some religious groups due to its religious subjects – nuns, priests, angels – and suggestive nature. The Association of Christian Lawyers (, AAC) filed a complaint against Cháirez with the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED), alleging his work violated the Mexican Constitution's Article 24 that protects religious freedom. On 14 February 2025, a group of Catholics disapproving of the works organized a sit-in in front of the San Carlos Academy. Five days later, protesters entered the building and staged a ''faux'' closure of a portion of the exhibit with caution tape and signs.

On 3 March 2025, federal judge Francisco Javier Rebolledo Peña granted the AAC a temporary suspension order against the exhibit, giving the UNAM 24 hours to enforce it. As a result, the show was suspended. A hearing was also set for 11 March to determine whether to grant a permanent suspension. Cháirez rebuked the suspension as censorship stemming from intolerance and called for protests in support of artistic freedom. He organized a demonstration on the university's campus on 7 March, where he spoke to a crowd of supporters.

On 13 March 2025, Rebolledo Peña rejected the AAC's request to indefinitely suspend the exhibit and Cháirez announced plans to open his exhibit again, possibly at other venues in Mexico City. On 2 April 2025, the exhibition was displayed at the Museum of Mexico City, where it was renamed – . It was suspended a few days later under the directive of the Sixth District Court in Administrative Matters in Mexico City.

Works and exhibitions

Works

Solo exhibitions

Multi-artist exhibitions

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chairez, Fabian
Mexican LGBTQ painters
1987 births
Mexican male painters
Mexican male sculptors
Mexican contemporary artists
21st-century Mexican painters
21st-century Mexican sculptors
People from Tuxtla Gutiérrez
21st-century Mexican male artists
Mexican drag queens
December 2019 in Mexico
March 2025 in Mexico
Living people