Twelve Years of Vestiges: Alfredo Romero Makes His New York Debut with an Exhibition that Reframes Urban Memory

Exhibition Nicolas Auvray Gallery in Chelsea, NY.

On April 3, artist Alfredo Romero inaugurated “Vestiges of Our Times,” a solo exhibition at the prestigious Nicolas Auvray Gallery, located in the emblematic Chelsea neighborhood of New York. This exhibition not only marks his debut at this renowned gallery, but also serves as a tribute to more than a decade of work dedicated to preserving the visual memory of Mexican cities through his distinctive technique: strappo.

Over the course of 12 years, Romero has developed a unique artistic process that fuses elements of urban archaeology and contemporary art. His method consists of carefully detaching layers of paint and plaster from real walls—many of them popular signs or advertisements painted by anonymous artists—and transferring them to a new surface, transforming them into objects of aesthetic contemplation. Each piece functions as a fragment of the city, a time capsule that holds the traces of passing generations.

The exhibition brings together 17 meticulously selected pieces that reveal not only the artist’s technical mastery but also his deep sensitivity to the ephemeral and the everyday. The opening event was attended by distinguished guests, including Ana Paula Martínez Garrigós and Carlota Mariel López Portillo, Program Coordinator at the Mexican Cultural Institute in New York, who celebrated the impact and importance of this artistic proposal in an international context.

“Vestiges of Our Times” is not just an art exhibition; it is an act of resistance against forgetting. In a world where cities are constantly changing, Romero invites us to pause and observe what usually goes unnoticed: the layered histories, the voices of local commerce, the popular graphics that give identity to the streets. By bringing them into the artistic realm, he not only preserves them but also offers them a new reading, revaluing the work of so many anonymous creators who, unknowingly, form part of the Mexican collective imagination.

The exhibition will remain open to the public until May 4, 2025, offering a unique opportunity to rediscover urban memory from a sensitive, critical, and deeply poetic perspective.

For more information, visit the official website of Nicolas Auvray Gallery:  https://www.nicolasauvraygallery.com/painters/alfredoromero