Purple Magazine
— Purple #43 S/S 2025
The Tokyo Diary Issue
alejandro garcia contreras
interview
by ALEPH MOLINARI
Japanese anime has spread worldwide, influencing both youth culture and contemporary art, as shown in the erotic-baroque ceramics of this young Mexican artist.
ALEPH MOLINARI — You’ve never been to Japan, but it’s such a strong inspiration for you. How did this obsession begin?
ALEJANDRO GARCÍA CONTRERAS — It started mainly with anime on television. When video rental stores were still around, my parents would take me to rent movies. Imagine, I’m talking about Chiapas, Mexico, so there weren’t that many options. Among the things I’d always pick was a samurai series called “Kamui, the Ninja Deserter.” When I was four or five, I started watching Kamui, Godzilla and Mazinger Z. and went wildly into anime film. I didn’t understand any of it.
ALEPH MOLINARI — Did this Japanese culture become almost a personal mythology for you?
ALEJANDRO GARCÍA CONTRERAS — Absolutely. But later this obsession with anime and manga had a lot to do with exploring eroticism. When I discovered Japanese shunga, which is like pre-hentai from 200 years ago, I realized that Japanese erotic art has been around for a long time and has deep roots in the culture.
ALEPH MOLINARI — Mexico and Japan both have a strong ceramics tradition.
ALEJANDRO GARCÍA CONTRERAS — In Chiapas, the city of Tapachula is fascinating because of the significant immigration of Japanese and Chinese people in the late 19th century. There’s a small town nearby called Acacoyagua, where Japanese culture is still very noticeable, even in people’s features.
ALEPH MOLINARI — They came with La Nao de China, the galleons traveling from Manila to Acapulco, and connecting Mexico with Asia.
ALEJANDRO GARCÍA CONTRERAS — Exactly. Tapachula has a large population of Japanese and Chinese descendants. About 30 years ago, Crown Prince Akishino of Japan even visited to reconnect with that culture. It’s a very hybrid place, which sparked my imagination. I wondered, “Where did these people’s families come from originally? What were their cultures like?”
ALEPH MOLINARI — How did you integrate this into your work and your ceramics? The techniques of Japanese ceramics are well known, from raku firing to the particular lacquer used.
ALEJANDRO GARCÍA CONTRERAS — I’ve never incorporated raku in my work. I’ve always been hesitant because I like to have a lot of control over the object and know how it’ll look in the end. My connection to Japan lies more in visual references than in how the pieces are made. The first material I worked with in ceramics was porcelain. Back in school, I had to prepare it myself, buying powders like kaolin, silica, and feldspar, and mixing them together. Over time, I started researching the origins of porcelain. Historically, it was developed in China, then spread to Japan, and later reached Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. I believe ceramics inherently reflect cultural hybridity, which is interesting to me.
ALEPH MOLINARI — Your ceramics have an erotic aspect, which is rare in this field. You blend elements like cartoons, anime, and hentai with references to classical painting and mythological themes from various cultures, turning your ceramics into vessels for diverse mythologies.
ALEJANDRO GARCÍA CONTRERAS — Exactly. Whether you see them as vases or as sculptures, they’re containers for information. They’re not just objects used in daily life to carry water or store grain; they tell stories. And that’s one of the fascinating things about ceramics: there’s always a tale told through the material.
ALEPH MOLINARI — How do you develop a narrative on a three-dimensional object?
ALEJANDRO GARCÍA CONTRERAS — It’s nonlinear. Initially, I was doing a lot of animation and video work. But unlike a linear story, ceramics offer a circular exploration with no clear beginning or end. When we look at a painting, there’s usually a way to read it. With ceramics, it feels more personal: you choose where to start, what to focus on, and whether to look back again.
ALEPH MOLINARI — Your ceramics are polytheistic, polymythological. Do you believe there is something universal in eroticism that transcends traditions and cultures?
ALEJANDRO GARCÍA CONTRERAS — Yes, look at flowers: they are erotic. After all, they are the reproductive organs of plants. And if we look around, I feel like everything is a constant orgy of fertilization and cultural pollination. Eros is all around us, and not just in pornography; it’s a fundamental part of humanity. And when I create a piece, I simply follow the impulses that have already fertilized my mind and want to come out as objects. Honestly, I rarely know what’s happening or how a piece will turn out. I think that’s part of the magic, too.
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