Identity and the abyss of anonymity
Drawing and oil painting are the two main techniques that I use to develop my artistic practice. My work is a continuous research into the representation of the human body, which results in a series of dark and melancholic self-portraits. More than a simple representation of the body or a portrait, my artworks are like the cartography of an unknown and unexplored territory where paint rains and light comes from the moon. This cartography depicts ourselves, which is perhaps the most difficult thing to understand.
The theme of identity is recurrent in my work, I am interested in the multiple relationships that can exist in different dimensions of identity at the individual and collective level. That is why I question a context where the individual dwells in the void and that opposes the social construction of the self which has been subjected to the normalization of the body and social categorization in the dominant hetero-patriarchal regime. This regime is a source of conflict and proposes rigid and confusing alternatives. Thus, the way this context affects and inspires me is reflected in a painting characterized by a fluctuating presence. The dissolving figure is not static and it is opposed to the frequent narcissism of figurative representation. The identity falls into anonymity. The absence of oneself, the tear and the feeling of loss trigger creative and destructive impulses; these are manifested in the blurred effects of my drawings, the fading subjects and the scratch of the paint that leaves a scarification on the surface of the canvas.
Anonymity is another topic that appears throughout my work. Whether it is a cover-up or not, anonymity is a strategy to reveal what I don’t dare to look in the mirror. It is a form of identity and a tactic to protect myself from the examining, correcting, classifying and excluding gaze of others. Thus, painting has allowed me to remain in an oscillating position between disappearance and appearance and enables me to communicate without fear, reflecting on myself and discovering myself being anonymous. Halfway between the finished and the unfinished, my paintings are mostly faceless and the body becomes a source of information in which all our desires and all our sensations are engraved. For example, the tendons and their lines of force, the hands and their ability to communicate, or a simple posture that reflects the richness of an internal life.
Perhaps in my work a voice can be heard, it speaks of the personal condition in a society where persecution, exclusion and violence reign. I could also hear this voice in authors like E. Louis, P. Preciado, S. Beckett, in F. Bacon's painting and in many people around me. My work has an autobiographical character in which I try to answer multiple questions. I want my painting and me to resemble, and that is the result of a self-reflective observation where the only story I want to tell is the story of the secrets of my life, the emotions of my heart and the restlessness of the flesh.
