View Isabel and Agustín Coppel Collection on Collecteurs
You could be standing under an intricately built metal archery covered by flowers or discovering 2000 Mexican coins steadily secured to the ground; you could be entering a mysterious dome-like structure and encountering an unfathomably colorful skyspace. You could be doing all these while witnessing the great biodiversity of Mexico and the earth. At the botanical garden of Culiacán, the Isabel and Agustín Coppel Collection (CIAC) has installed 38 contemporary artworks by Mexican and international artists, among whom are some of the biggest names we have in the art world.
The Isabel and Agustín Coppel Collection (CIAC), is an art collection founded in Mexico and a non-profit association aiming to promote contemporary art and make art more accessible to the general public. As one of Mexico’s most notable collections of contemporary art, it includes works by local stars Francis Alÿs, Melanie Smith, Gabriel Orozco, Abraham Cruzvillegas, and Damián Ortega, as well as pieces by global artists such as Gordon Matta-Clark, Lygia Clark, Ed Ruscha, Hélio Oiticica, Tatiana Trouvé, Rivane Neuenschwander, and Terence Koh.
In her course An Oasis in the City: Coppel Collection for Collecteurs Academy, Magnolia de La Garza, the director of the Isabel and Agustín Coppel Collection, recounts an unfiltered journey of the collection, from starting in a small town in Mexico to establishing itself in the western-centered art world, constantly battling stereotypes while holding on to its public-benefiting mission. Collections aren’t always open about their humble beginnings or the hardships they’ve been through. Before you dive into this rare-to-find course, here is an introduction to the collection and a sneak peek of its inspiring story.
At its early stage, in the early 90s, the Coppel Collection bound geologically to Culiacán; Isabel and Agustín’s hometown. The collector pair began with the humble aspiration to support local artists in Culiacán, a place with no art museums or commercial art market at the time. De la Garza recounts that when she came to the collection 7 years ago; “it was important for [me] to understand how Isabel and Agustín decided to buy art in that context, without a museum in their hometown.” It turns out that upon the impact of one of their friends, Isabel and Agustín started collecting in 1991 and bought twenty works in their first year, all from Culiacán artists early in their careers. Just a year later, they decided to reach outside their hometown and expand their support to more Mexican artists. Since then, the Coppel Collection has been taking its connection to its own land seriously. This focus of supporting Mexican artists in their early careers as well as enhancing the art education in Mexico maintained its importance. “It is important that the collection supports the artists’ careers. Not just buying their works, but also supporting their shows and publications. And this is what distinguishes us from other collections.”
Since the early 90s, Isabel and Agustín wished to better understand art scenes in other metropolitans. They traveled to other art centers in the world and various art fairs to explore art in the wider market. Their relationship with art dealer Mireya Escalante became an essential one, and Escalante later became the first director of the Coppel Collection.
In the late 90s, as a conscious step to expand their collection, Escalante started to introduce herself and the collection to galleries in New York, London, and Paris. Although being a collection in Mexico is an essential part of the collection’s identity, it was unfortunately not an immediate appeal to the Western art world. De la Garza recounts that the Western art market did not know collectors from Mexico in the first half of the 90s. As a result, in their early years, the Coppel collection faced the constant pressure of proving itself to be note-worthy, to be international rather than local. With the constant effort to affirm their importance and the help of some friends, the Coppel Collection was finally fully accepted by international galleries. Today, De la Garza says she is lucky that “the collection now has a story and a reputation,” which makes it easier for her to establish connections with galleries.
After a decade of collecting, with more works coming into the collection and a director in place, Isabel and Agustín set their sights on building an established collection that would eventually take them beyond the walls of their own home. The couple has always relied on an intuitive and idiosyncratic methodology of deciding what to buy and thought to take the next step to open up their private collection to the public for the first time. In 2008, the collection invited Taiyana Pimentel, a Cuban curator based in Mexico, to curate the collection’s first show, Las Implicaciones de la Imagen (Implications of the Image). As an inaugural show of this private collection, it was not based on a singular theme but a non-linear concept of space and time where several concepts converge. De la Garza remarks that starting with this exhibition, the collection realized that making exhibitions and establishing connections with the larger art world opened new doors for the Coppel Collection. “Curators helped to unveil new threads within the collection, and exhibitions also brought forward the relation between works and architecture.”
The collection continued collaborating with curators to bring forth exhibitions such as a two-venue show Mexico: Expected/Unexpected in California in 2015 and a photography exhibition Life World in Italy in 2017, to reach more audiences and further improve the collection’s legacy. As an important collection from Mexico, it has supplied the world with a fantastic collection of contemporary Mexican art while bringing the works of international artists to Mexico.
2012 marks another important exhibition for the Coppel Collection. Latitudes Utópicas [Utopian Places] highlighted the works of twenty artists conceived for the Jardín Botánico Culiacán (JBC), the botanical garden of Culiacán, Sinaloa. The Coppel Collection has begun this contemporary art project at this important public space since 2005. De La Garza describes it as a new adventure, since “At the time, neither Augustin nor Mireya had the experience or infrastructure to commission these works. So it was a new way to approach the collection and the production of the pieces.” This project was dear to heart as it brought world-renown art to the people of Culiacan and offered an art-viewing experience that is easily enjoyable and accessible for the general public. With this iconic project, the Coppel collection left a valuable legacy in its place, for its people.
The Coppel Collection had a unique journey with its beginnings in Mexico. Throughout the years, the collection has slowly gained more structure and cohesion through interacting with the wider art world and audience. Their story proves that a collection is a living organism, claiming its spirit and growing toward the direction it wishes to go. As told by de La Garza, after over three decades of collecting and over a decade of putting out shows and publications, it still sometimes faces the pressure to prove itself as an international rather than a local collection. There are many things emerging collections might take from the story of the Coppel Collection: its persistent resilience against stereotypes, its multifaceted support for Mexican artists, its sensible engagement with the community, and even the organic process through which it has gained shape and coherency.
Enroll now in Magnolia de La Garza’s course An Oasis in the City: Coppel Collection for Collecteurs Academy to learn more about how the Coppel Collection manifested each one of these qualities over time, the challenges in building an outdoor exhibition, and gain a valuable first-hand account of the past, present, and future of the collection from its director.