Monstruos
de última hora
Exhibitions:2024 Només si fa olor de terra. Group Show. Curated by Blanca Arias. Centro de Arte La Panera, Lleida.
2023 como los fragmentos que se han roto. Duo Show. With Lucas Marcos. Malpaís, Artist-run-space, Barcelona.
There is a dismembered body sprouting from the corners of the room: fluids, hair, seashells, remains of flowers and plants. These are the remnants of a monster made flesh that has turned into a crust, the ruins of a diverted future where various species inhabit in unexpected alliances. Last-minute monsters take shape as a site of fragmented and multiple bodies, of shells and decaying crusts that remind us of our own fragility as sentient beings.
The sculptures by Alicia Arévalo, made from biodegradable materials, invite us to return to the skin—that vast and cherished organ that gives us the gift of touch—to reconsider the potential of the porous and the sticky. These metamorphic creatures have already lived through the end of their worlds, yet they live simultaneously anchored in a present where we see them mutate, where we witness their disintegration.
In an exercise of radical imagination, the artist creates a path through the exhibition space where we can position ourselves as archaeologists of a (re)twisted time, and that, at the same time, helps us situate ourselves on a wounded planet. In the exhibition, the pieces function as binders: they create bridges between works and artists and generate a space for the diffusion of boundaries and the hybridization of opposites.
Monstruos de última hora, 2023Metal, agar agar, glycerin, vinegar, water, flower, shells, hair
Detail of Monstruos de última hora, 2023
Mitty II, 2023Glass, cornstarch, glycerin, vinegar, water, cranberry, flower, shells, hair
Monstruos de última hora, 2023Agar agar, glycerin, vinegar, water, flower, shells, hair
Bioplastics are derived from plant elements such as corn, algae, and fruits, which are mixed into an amalgam of fluids, hair, seashells, and remnants of flowers and plants. They are in a constant state of disintegration. This process is more evident in the glass jars, where the water is accelerating the decomposition of the polymers. In the third glass jar, the opposite process is happening: there is a tea fungus that is growing new cellulose organisms, resembling vegetal skins.
Monstruos de última hora, 2023Glass, tea fungus, cornstarch, green tea, agar agar, glycerin, vinegar, water, cranberry, orange
2023
Glass, cornstarch, glycerin, vinegar, water, flower, shells, hair
Mitty, 2023Metal plate, cornstarch, glycerin, vinegar, water, blueberry
Como los fragmentos 2023Cornstarch, glycerin, vinegar, water
Fotografías por Andrea CarillaSoft and sticky creatures emerged. They were ancient beings of the earth, condensing the various materialities and existing forms of life. These new moist beings, filled with remains, shells, and tangled hair, frolicked in a multi-creature humus. They are last-minute monsters, pieces of dead skin coming to life once again.
