"TRASNOCHAR, PULIR Y ROER": HÉCTOR JIMÉNEZ CASTILLO AT ESPACIO MÍNIMO
On 20th February, the Spanish gallery Espacio Mínimo inaugurated a solo exhibition by the Mexican artist Héctor Jiménez Castillo (Veracruz, Mexico 1992). Trasnochar, pulir y roer is an intuitive exploration of the pictorial medium conceived especially for the occasion. In constant play with a dreamlike imaginary of image blurred in space, the paintings resort to dramatic compositions in which the elements (figurative characters) occupy the landscape from a proxemic language.
The artwork of Héctor Jiménez Castillo, as explained by Espacio Mínimo, is influenced by aspects of his own biography, mainly in relation to his body. For the Mexican artist, corporeality is understood as a mediating vehicle for the experience-context-knowledge relationships. Thus, his visual universe emerges from languages as diverse as theatre, choreography, poetry, painting, sculpture and drawing. Aspects identifiable in works such as Ballet deshuesado and La sangre llama a la sangre: human figures are presented in performative positions within landscapes devoured by an apparent state of mind that the artist transfers to the atmosphere of the oeuvre.
The series that constitute Trasnochar, pulir y roer seem to be produced in states of insomnia or extreme wakefulness. Each of Jiménez Castillo's paintings is aimed at stimulating the unconscious imaginary through an artistic transformation of reality which, in his artwork, opens up into contrasting possibilities with the capacity to shape the viewer's perceptions.
Regarding the creative process, the artist said: "I work daily and without judgement, the resulting images propose new stimuli and materials for the space of the unconscious, where myth, the erotic, mysticism, or foreshadowing come together". The artistic exercise, he explains, has the capacity to introduce a new representational dimension that is not necessarily pleasant or rational, but which ultimately adds value to ordinary models of approaching the world.
Under the curatorship of Omar López-Chahoud —born in Cuba, he has been the artistic director and curator of the UNTITLED art fair, in 2014 he participated as curator of the Nicaragua Biennial, and has been invited by institutions such as MoMA PS1 and the Whitney Museum, among others, to form part of discussion panels— Trasnochar, pulir y roer establishes a dialogue between a series of watercolours, works on paper and pieces where the pictorial and the sculptural merge. All of them allude to the fragility of identity and intimacy, to the mechanisms of chance and, in part, to the iconography of the tarot and occidental art in general.
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"Ballet deshuesado", Héctor Jiménez Castillo, 2021. Acuarela sobre papel. Ph: Espacio Mínimo.
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"La sangre llama a la sangre", Héctor Jiménez Castillo, 2021. Acuarela sobre papel. Ph: Espacio Mínimo.
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"Trasnochas, pulir y roer", vista de sala. Ph: Espacio Mínimo.
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"Sistema digestivo", Héctor Jiménez Castillo, 2020-21. Acuarela sobre foamy. Ph: Esapcio Mínimo.
EXHIBITION INFORMATION
Exhibition: Trasncochar, pulir y roer, by Héctor Jiménez Castillo
Curator: Omar López-Chahoud, independent curator.
When: 20/ 02/ 2021 - 31/ 03/ 2021
Where: Espacio Mínimo, Dr. Fourquet 17, Madrid
