Annet Gelink Gallery proudly presents the first solo exhibition of Carlos Amorales (Mexico D.F.1970) in the Netherlands. In 1993 he came to Amsterdam and in 1996-97 he studied at the Rijksakademie. Since his work has been shown in national and international museums and cultural institutions. Last summer he was one of the selected artists whose work was exhibited in the Dutch Pavilion during the Venice Biennale. With his installation Flames Shoe Maquiladora he invited the public to take part in the production process of shoes, inspired by the many "sweatshops" in Mexico, where people for the lowest saleries are working on expensive sportsshoes.
Amorales is known for his wrestling performances he started at the end of the 90´s. He introduced the character "Amorales" into the Mexican world of professional wrestling (Lucha Libre) and to the contemporary art world. In his Amorales vs Amorales performances masked wrestlers fight each other masked as "Amorales". These performances took place in sports arenas as well as in museums as the Tate in London, Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. He uses the popular wrestling theater as a context for an exploration of identity, spectacle and the public sphere.
At the Annet Gelink Gallery Amorales presents his new installation Origami Bomb. In this 3 channel slide projection Amorales is transferring the propagandic campaigning method used in warzones to the territory of art. Amorales has been working on this project in Mexico where he released leaflets from a plane flying above urban areas of Mexico City. Altough not a warzone, the housing estates in Mexico City are sometimes considered as such.
Instead of encouraging people to stop fighting or manipulateing in another political way - as happened for example during the "War Against Terrorism" in Irak where military forces of the United States threw out pamphlets with texts as "go home to your families" - Amorales does not direct the receivers of his pamphlets anywhere. With his leaflets of designs for origami frogs he evokes wonder.
Amorales photographed the whole action, from the release of the papers out of the plane till the people reacting and the folding of the papers. Origami Bomb , which consists of these photo´s in combination with the use of aero pictures of Mexico City, provokes wonder and emotion in a very poetical way.
Along with Origami Bomb we present paintings by Carlos Amorales shown for the first time.
