Backdrops for Ghosts: Carlos Amorales at Nils Stærk

BACKDROPS FOR GHOSTS

Carlos Amorales at Nils Stærk

31 August – 13 October, 2018

A master of movement
Movement is at the core of Carlos Amorales’ practice, be it literally in the form of sounds, video and animations, or metaphorically through symbols and compositions that challenge our preexisting vision of the world, gently moving the viewer forward. This subtle rhythm is also at play in his current exhibition Backdrops for Ghosts at Nils Stærk, where he pushes visual abstraction into figuration, thus constructing a narrative that brings the viewer into a painting exhibition surrounded by a large puppet show. As such, Amorales plays with the classical notions by inverting form and background. The characters in the exhibition are transformed into shadow paintings on the walls, whereas the backgrounds where they normally would be placed to perform, hang forward as a series of large-scale painted wood collages. By placing the backdrop in the foreground, the exhibition points towards a contemporary world that appears as upside down, not with an intention to put forward any right or wrong answers, but as a way for Amorales to challenge the viewer to inhabit the gallery space in a new way. As he puts it in an interview with Mousse Magazine in relation to his presentation for the Mexican Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2017: “I am not taking a position defending one against the other, but rather using both to see what happens when the two collide.” Backdrops for Ghosts is exactly that: a collision between modes of expressions.

Life unfolding
In 2017 Amorales represented Mexico at the Venice Biennale with the project Life in The Folds – a project that created new vocabularies, languages and settings through which life can reinvent itself. Starting out with paper cut-out shapes, Amorales created a series of abstract colorful collages – these abstractions became an illegible alphabet and a series of musical instruments that gave sound to each letter. All aspects were combined in the production of the puppet film The Cursed Village – a film telling the story of an immigrant family, whose destiny ends with being lynched in the foreign town. The maquettes from the film are placed as the central installation in the gallery and allow the viewer to become immersed in a fairytale world, that nevertheless points to urgent political issues. Clearly, it is important for Amorales to take a stance against the unfolding of world events and confront the status quo. In his own words, he believes that “we are at a time when it is crucial to discuss freedom of thought if we want to live in a society in which different points of view can mingle and substantiate our understanding of equality and justice.” Backdrops of Ghosts offers several viewpoints for the visitor to be explored. Amorales never judges, rather he raises questions and turns things upside down in order to shed light on the life in the folds.

Experience the exhibition in 3D here.

About Carlos Amorales
Born 1970 in Mexico City, MX
Lives and works in Mexico City, MX

Download CV here.

About Nils Stærk
Nils Stærk is a contemporary Copenhagen-based art gallery with an international profile, established in 1997 and dedicated to presenting contemporary art. The gallery represents mid-career and established national and international artists working in different media, approaches and genres. The artists share a conceptual narrative and an interest in investigating and exploring critical dissemination of current values and conflicts in today’s globalized society.

Address
Glentevej 49
2400 Copenhagen
Denmark

Opening hours
Tues-Fri: 11-17 Sat:11-15

Website: nilsstaerk.dk

Text by Anne-Lill Brok
Photo by Malle Madsen