MARSO | The Thread Is In

Carlos Arias | The Thread Is In

01.04.17 - 24.06.17

Marso is proud to present Carlos Arias’ first solo show of in the gallery, which is also the artist’s first exhibition in a gallery in Mexico City since 1996. The exhibition groups 56 pieces from the last 20 years of his artistic production, in which his basic creative platform has been - and continues to be - textile and embroidery.

As he himself says: “ The fact of the daily dedication to the production of handmade objects that require such time investment, has given me the security of not having to pay attention to the predetermined roles in the political and ideological significance of the masculine or feminine. “

Carlos was born in Chile in 1964, and as a result of the military dictatorship in his country, he went into exile with his family to Mexico, where he resided from 1975 to 1983. He went back to Chile to study Visual Arts and later got a master’s degree at UNAM in Mexico City in 1988. In 1994 he decided to abandon painting and dedicate his practice to embroidery as a media for conceptual reflection, being also a point of departure for deep reflections on representation and gender issues in postcolonial America.

He has exhibited in museums and galleries nationally and internationally, among which are: First Liverpool Biennial (England, 1999); IlRacconto del Filo (Italy, 2003); Eco: arte contemporáneo mexicano (Madrid, 2005); Plataforma 01 (Puebla, 2006); La era de la discrepancia (UNAM, Malba, Buenos Aires; and Pinacoteca of Sao Paulo, 2007 y 2008); IV Praga Biennial (2009); Neomexicanismos (Modern Art Museum, Mexico City, 2011); El hombre al desnudo (National Art Museum MUNAL, 2014); Autorretratos en lo común (Textil Museum of Oaxaca, 2014); ARS 01 Kiasma, (Helsinki, Finland, 2001); San Diego Museum of Art (US, 2002) and MuseumBeeldenaanZee (Holland, 2002). El hilo de la vida was a retrospective exhibition that included more than two decades of work, was presented at the Capilla del Arte, Puebla in 2015 and at the Museo Universitario del Chopo in 2016.

He’s been a professor of Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP) since 1998. Arias received the FONDART grant of the Chilean government to make a project around the thread and was a member of the National System of Creators of Art (2004-2007).