Spanish-born artist Alfredo Lanz has spent much of his life working across painting, sculpture, jewelry, and photography. But after moving to Puerto Morelos in 2012, the natural environment here began shaping his work in a very different direction.

That connection is now on display in his current exhibition, Entre Cortezas y Pensamientos, at the Centro Cultural y Museo de Puerto Morelos.

The exhibition runs from September 22 through October 22, 2026, and admission is free.

From Madrid to Puerto Morelos

Lanz was born in Madrid in 1945 and grew up surrounded by art. His uncle, Hermenegildo Lanz, was a Spanish artist and stage designer who worked in circles that included Federico García Lorca and Manuel de Falla.

After moving to Barcelona in 1969, Lanz continued developing his work in sculpture and other media. Over the years, he became known for work that often combined abstraction, texture, physical materials, and sculptural form.

In 2012, he moved to Puerto Morelos.

That move changed the direction of much of his later work.

Inspired by the Mangroves

Puerto Morelos gave Lanz a new source of material and subject matter.

The mangroves, jungle, roots, bark, coral forms, and other natural textures of the region began appearing throughout his work.

In his Manglares series, Lanz has used materials including wood, bark, roots, stucco, pigments, and oil. Some pieces incorporate natural materials he has found on the forest floor.

The result is work that often feels somewhere between painting and sculpture.

Rather than using only brushes and conventional tools, Lanz has also spoken about working directly with his hands to create the textures he wants.

His work has increasingly connected art with questions about nature, conservation, memory, and our relationship with the environment.

Art Rooted in Puerto Morelos

Lanz's connection with Puerto Morelos goes beyond his studio.

In 2023, he created the Santuario de la Paz at the Jardín Botánico Dr. Alfredo Barrera Marín.

The following year, the Centro Cultural y Museo de Puerto Morelos hosted an exhibition of his Manglares work.

He has also created larger works connected to the mangrove environment of Quintana Roo, including Manglares de México.

So while Lanz began his career in Spain, much of his more recent work has grown directly out of the environment surrounding Puerto Morelos.

Entre Cortezas y Pensamientos

The title of his current exhibition, Entre Cortezas y Pensamientos, translates roughly as “Between Bark and Thoughts.”

It is an appropriate title for an artist whose recent work has combined physical pieces of the natural world with more abstract ideas.

The exhibition brings nature and art together through Lanz's distinctive use of texture, organic forms, and natural materials.

For people who live in Puerto Morelos, the work may also feel especially familiar. The roots, bark, mangroves, and other forms that inspire Lanz are part of the environment we see around us every day.

Exhibition Details

Entre Cortezas y Pensamientos by Alfredo Lanz

Dates: September 22 through October 22, 2026

Location: Centro Cultural y Museo de Puerto Morelos

Hours: 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday

Saturday and Sunday: Closed

Admission: Free

For anyone interested in art, nature, or the environment around Puerto Morelos, this exhibition is a chance to see how one local artist has spent more than a decade turning the natural world around him into art.