“I love it, but I wouldn’t put it in my house.” It’s a sentiment often echoed by some collectors and visitors. “This reflects the fact that one of our main concerns is to be critical of our own era,” Paul Earle tells me.
Is discomfort still truly subversive?
“We may be the gallery in Mexico with the hardest paintings to display in a gallery space.” The question isn’t whether art makes people uncomfortable, but whether that discomfort is still truly subversive… or if it’s already part of the market.
For General Expenses, getting bogged down in aesthetic debates about beauty or its antonyms takes a back seat when the goal is to present high-quality art.
“Works that challenge the status quo, that align with the gallery’s interests, or ‘that offer insights relevant to our contemporary world—and that almost always results in exhibitions that could be considered transgressive,’” Álvaro says.
The General Expenses Program
Founded in Mexico City by Paul and his partner Álvaro López in 2022, General Expenses is an art gallery committed to fostering artistic practice and dialogue among artists, collectives, and cultural institutions. Its goal: to promote and develop multidisciplinary practices directly or indirectly linked to Mexico, as well as contemporary issues—both local and global. Its program is designed to encompass a wide range of formats.
Both gallery owners had previously launched the Ladrón Galería project, a space created “by artists, for artists, ” they explain. That space, with its bandit-inspired name and self-defining spirit—and a focus on folk art, such as neighborhood crafts and other contemporary expressions—served as the generational foundation for the creators with whom they now work at General Expenses. Names such as Wendy Cabrera Rubio, Marek Wolfric, and Marco Antonio Aviña were listed in the catalog.
Decisions that have strayed from the unconventional
Strategically, General Expenses emerged from the need to formalize and find a more commercial and program-specific niche for all the artistic work these artists were producing. With two captains already at the helm, the gallery has been clear from the start about what it aims to present, beyond the merely provocative: “We have been making decisions that steer clear of the transgressive.”
“Democracy doesn’t work in politics or in art,” they say. “It’s a practical matter of more down-to-earth interests and specific aesthetic goals, seeking strategic approaches to what can and cannot be sold in a market, in order to ensure longevity,” they assert.
Condo Maintenance Fees 2026
For the recent 2026 edition of Condo CDMX —the initiative in which, as we previously reported in AW Magazine, local galleries invite galleries from outside the city to share space in their city— General Expenses featured a very special collaboration with their colleagues from the Basque Country at the Cibrián space. “We also had Oscar Tuazon, an artist from Los Angeles, who comes from a much more conceptual, less figurative school than the one that characterizes us.”
“I think that’s part of what makes Condo so brilliant—it allows you to navigate the balance between your gallery’s interests and its scope, while also fostering closer ties with other perspectives.”
Ellen R. Hanson under General Expenses
Currently, in addition to participating in the group exhibition “Soccer and Art: That Same Emotion” at the Jumex Museum, General Expenses is showcasing the work of Minneapolis-born, Mexico City-based painter Ellen R. Hanson on its walls: “Ellen’s process isn’t strictly pictorial; it has a very interesting performative component in her painting process that relates to various concepts tied to the materiality of the finished work.” The artist uses polyester instead of traditional materials. “And we’ve already had a couple of collectors question us, arguing that there was a reason Rembrandt painted on linen instead of synthetic fabric,” they comment.
But Ellen’s work isn’t exactly conventional either; her series currently on display features portraits of the extreme sport—or rather, spectacle—known as the Pit of Death. “To me, it really brings to mind rednecks or those county fairs lost in the middle of the United States, where two people on motorcycles or in cars start spinning around inside a wooden cylinder, defying gravity in that performative act that takes you to the edge between life and death.
Britney Spears’ streak
Also, as part of her exhibition, Ellen has a painting depicting a few strands of cut hair next to a pair of scissors, representing Britney Spears ’ hair when, after rising to stardom and all those years of fame, she had a mental breakdown and cut it off.” In real life, those blonde locks were auctioned off on eBay for millions of dollars.
But… what kind of work would General Expenses present that they themselves wouldn’t display in their own gallery? “I’d say it’s more a matter of not having enough space to display a piece. At the end of the day, part of this critical vision is being able to accept the artists’ technical approaches. I don’t think there’s anything I wouldn’t put in my own gallery. Maybe the painting—some taxidermied rats by Maggie Petroni,” Paul replies cautiously.
The Intensity of Roger Muñoz
“The truth is that if we’re presenting a particular work, it’s because we have complete confidence in it. But, in that sense, and to answer the question, I think the work of Roger Muñoz —a Costa Rican artist they’re currently working with—tends to be very intense visually. Violence is a theme that interests him not per se, but rather as part of a pictorial tradition that is often swept under the rug because it doesn’t fit into the realm of the beautiful,” Álvaro concludes.
To visit General Expenses Here are the hours and location: Wednesday through Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Medellín 263, Roma Sur, Cuauhtémoc, 06760 Mexico City, CDMX. And yes, it’s worth going to see if you dare to put one of those pieces in your living room. Or to admire Britney’s locks.
In a market that demands livable spaces, General Expenses remains committed to creating discomfort that is consistent with quality. And, against all odds, it also manages to sell this concept and operate as a successful gallery.
