Mathematics, science and machines are the original sources in the imaginary world
of Manuel Felguérez. It’s a well-known secret; thus, I shall attempt to examine the
topic minutely, convinced that the result of the investigation shall help to understand
that the artist is a devoted reader of science fiction, a tendency that has influenced
the poetics and themes of his work. To express the issue as such from the outset
will facilitate the undertaking of examining his sculptures (meticulous and geometric)
and his latest paintings (lively and informal), a prior and necessary step that
shall explain to us the reason why he combines visual resources in a way that appears
contradictory and even unwonted on the surface, raising question marks that,
unless clarified, would overshadow—rather than explain—the contributions by this
great Mexican artist to 20th-Century international art.