Haciendome el loco

As a result of my 3 weeks residency in Mexico DF I had a soloshow opening on the 13th of November at the Celaya brothers Gallery called: Haciendome el Loco. It means “acting like crazy”, acting like crazy as if you don’t want to be aware of what’s going on around you… like an ostrich burying its head in the sand. Acting like crazy because it’s my way to be happy in a world I consider pretty messed up.
During the residency I produced several pieces well influenced by my encounter with mexican culture: 2 embroideries called “Hello my Name Is 1 & 2″ made in Oaxaca. I had seen this kind of handcraft for a long time now and really was feeling attracted by the technic, I wanted to confront and integrate my modern style -graphically and meaningly speaking- with traditional mexican embroidery. I also produced 3 sculptures (syncretism 1,2,3) that are tinted cement castles in superposition.I hide behind a childish and innocent aspect a critic against the urge of civilizations to impose their beliefs to one another… as the conquerors did in mexico when building churches over temples. Another piece is the installation “Escombro Ancestral” (Ancestral Rubbish): it deals with the waste of things, it also makes a parallel with rubbish and art, and it definitely looks like what you see in Mexico street where you are surrounded by broken cement. I also presented the video “Construcciones Ilegales in DF” (filmed and edited by Francisco Betanzos) that brings out the problem of overbuilding. The last piece I produced there is the canvas “El baile de los locos” (dance of the fools), which is inspired by my trip to oaxaca and the visit to the museum of anthropology. I had to paint it in 4 days which is really short compared to what i’m used to so it took me out of my comfort zone and I kind of enjoyed a lot the experience. I also brought with me some canvases and works on paper I had produced previously during the year.

“This exhibition portrays the need that both the artist and the viewer have, to safeguard the much-needed purity, not to fall into fatalism, and to enjoy the everyday magic of life. It truly is necessary to act crazy.”