as a matter of fact / de hecho y de materia
Feb 02 – April 03 2026
Rey Akdogan, Simon Callery, Ladji Diaby, Emanuel Juárez, David L. Johnson, Devin T. Mays, & María Naidich.
Emmanuel Juárez, I keep on my palate the promise of a memory (Guardo en mi paladar la promesa de un recuerdo) I, 2025
THIRD BORN is pleased to present, as a matter of fact / de hecho y de materia, a group exhibition bringing together international and local artists whose practices examine the conditions through which perception is organized, and meaning is produced.
The exhibition engages questions of corporeality, visibility, opticality, and memory. Rather than treating perception as fixed, the works approach it as something constructed – emerging through relationships between bodies, materials, images, and space. Across sculpture, installation, and wall-based works, the exhibition considers how the ordinary is mediated and made intelligible.
The artists explore shifting dynamics between subject and object, as well as the tension between what exists and what becomes visible. Forms appear, recede, or remain partially withheld, drawing attention to the material, spatial, and political conditions that shape visibility. Politics and aesthetics intersect throughout the exhibition not as overt statements, but as embedded structures that organize how experience is framed and interpreted.
Through strategies of inversion, subtraction, and self- construction, the works bring to light architectural, technological, and affective systems that often operate unnoticed. In doing so, the gallery is positioned not as a neutral container, but as an active field in which perception is shaped, unsettled, and continuously renegotiated.
Select Works
Rey Akdogan
Subtraction #40, 2023
Fiberglass, acrylic, resin
55 x 30 cm
21 ⅝ in. x 13 in.
David L. Johnson
Loiter (David, Robert, Jeffrey), 2023
Removed standpipe spike
41 × 21 × 18 cm
16 × 8 1/6 × 7 in.
Rey Akdogan
Clip on (f), 2013
Display board, velvet display fabric, padding pins, acrylic letter spacers
30.5 x 41 cm
12 in. x 16 ⅛ in.
David L. Johnson
Loiter (Stephen), 2026
Removed standpipe spikes
Green element
39 × 21 × 23 cm
15 1/4 × 8 1/4 × 9 in.
Red element
33 × 22 × 24 cm
13 × 8 1/2 × 9 1/2 in.
Rey Akdogan
Subtraction #50, 2023
Print on paper, fiberglass, acrylic, archival varnish, resin, Dibond
40.5 x 31 cm
16 in. x 12 ¼ in.
Emmanuel Juárez
Se cayó el agua y rellenó la grieta, 2024
Bronze and Chromaluxe print
25 x 18 x 10 cm
9 ¾ x 7 ⅛ x 4 in.
Simon Callery
Dark Green Pocket Painting, 2020
Canvas, tempera paint, thread and wood
54 x 40 x 10 cm
21'2 x 21'2. x 3'9 in.
Devin T. Mays
Test, 2026
Monitors, 3-channel video
10:05 (looped)
Ladji Diaby
Anti-evil kit, 2026
Briefcase, aerosol spray, self-adhesive paper, thumbtacks, digital images, belt buckle, plastic flower
36.8 x 54 cm
14.5 x 21.3 in.
Emmanuel Juárez
I keep on my palate the promise of a memory (Guardo en mi paladar la promesa de un recuerdo) I, 2025
Gum bichromate on paper
25.3 × 18 cm
9.06 × 7.09 in.
Emmanuel Juárez
I keep on my palate the promise of a memory (Guardo en mi paladar la promesa de un recuerdo) II, 2025
Gum bichromate on paper
25.3 × 18 cm
9.06 × 7.09 in.
Emmanuel Juárez
I keep on my palate the promise of a memory (Guardo en mi paladar la promesa de un recuerdo) III, 2025
Gum bichromate on paper
25.3 × 18 cm
9.06 × 7.09 in.
Maria Naidich
Estudio de sal I–III (Salt Studies I–III), 2026
Thermoformed glass and steel; kiln-fired glass, welding, steel; cotton, salt crystals, aluminum
14 × 22, 15 × 22, 17 × 22 cm
5.5 × 8.7, 5.9 × 8.7, 6.7 × 8.7 in.
Installation Views
For inquiries please contact info@third-born.com and follow @thirdborn.mx