LOS OTROS

The works of visual artist Moisés Mahiques are amongst the most interesting in the national exhibitions' scenario. After graduating from Fine Arts in Valencia and studying at Suzuka International University in Japan, drawing becomes his means of approaching the matters of his interest. He explores the possibilities to express with a simple line and questions the values relative to a person's identity and his conflicts, context and incapability to blend in a system that seems too complex or foreign.   Present at ARCO since 2005, Mahiques has been showing his art for a decade, individually and collectively, in Spain and cities such as Berlin, New York, Rome, Moscow, etc. His work has received numerous awards and is present in different renown collections like the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome, the Collection Fundación General Universidad Complutense of Madrid, Caja Madrid, CAM of Fine Arts or ABC Collection, among others.   Moisés' conception of work is somewhat performative. He starts off with research material prior to the actual development of the drawing as an action in itself. An evolving action that allows him to approach a narration under a different time line. His characteristic black lines draw layer over layer of bodies dissolving their parts into an exhibition of their intimacies. Uncertainty lies in places where narrative tension never gets solved completely. Those lines offer a thread to pull from our own emotions, to conquer their essence.   “For this work, I've started off from the representation of the concept of otherness Los otros (others): something we conceive of as different at first but helps us to perceive our own situation in a given context and assume who we really are. Everyone of us, in a conscious way, represents a specific role with respect to the group.   This site specific works as a wall where visitors dialogue with Los otros (Others), those who are different, characters that wink and frown, and watch us ,who pose in strange ways or cover their faces with their hands so that they won't be recognized. Those characters will evolve and move on to a different undetermined place questioning us with their indifference”, Moisés Mahiques.