Ernesto Artillo

The Malaga artist Ernesto Artillo opens at Río & Meñaka Madrid "Los mártires", his largest solo exhibition to date, where he shows a selection of his latest works that vindicate the human and the possibilities of being and being through the most primary.

"Los mártires" are fragments of naked intentions. They are those who leave where they are expected to be, those who put their faith before their security, those who suffer in defence of their intuitions. Martyrs do not ask questions so as not to contemplate other options, nor do they answer so as not to violate those of others. Martyrs talk about something different from what is being talked about without losing the thread of any conversation. Martyrs accept applause without trusting those who applaud. Martyrs are the anti-capitalist postures of bodies, the most extreme elasticity of skins, the poems about anarchy swallowed by mouths. Martyrs are those who assume that one can only live suffering in order not to die lying.

Ernesto Artillo (Málaga, 1987) will open "Los mártires" (The Martyrs) on 9 January at Río & Meñaka Madrid, a project carried out in 2019 during his artistic residency in Aguamarga (Almería), where he has developed a series of works that vindicate the human and the possibilities of being and being through the most primal. Interested in the human being as a support for life, Ernesto Artillo directs his artistic projection to materialise his performative concerns, turning presence into a new form to investigate his humanist stories through different disciplines such as photography, collage, video, costumes, scenography, installation or performance. His work has been exhibited individually and collectively in galleries and galleries in St. Petersburg, Mumbai, Korea, Beijing, Hong Kong, Mallorca, Valencia, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Malaga.

Since the beginning of his artistic career, Ernesto Artillo has focused his work on questions of gender and identity, carrying out artistic projects of great social impact such as "La mujer que llevo fuera", a feminist work of conceptual intervention materialised in costumes to show feminist certainties. She has carried out the art direction, costumes and scenography of works such as "La mujer en obras", by Javier Ballesteros, where she invites to a reflection on the elements that attract and repel her from the traditional feminine imaginary; "Human", by Korsía; or the opera "Aria di Potenza", by Airport Society; and several collaborations with La Monnaie, opera of Brussels. She has participated in festivals such as Lovisual Logroño with "Lo que se lleva", where she reflects on what we don't want to see; or "Miradas de mujer", an urban installation located in one of the main streets of Málaga, which vindicated the feminisation of society through 100 large-format women's gazes suspended in the air. In one of his latest projects, "Salve", he presented in Aguamarga a flag that is hoisted on Spanish National Day that same year, made with the life jackets of people who have crossed the Mediterranean.

In addition, Ernesto Artillo has been able to combine his commercial and personal production during his career, collaborating with brands such as Dolce & Gabbana, Delpozo, Adolfo Domínguez, Loewe, Harvey Nichols, Pepe Jeans, Printemps Paris, Lane Crawford Hong Kong or Shiseido, among many others, who have supported and sponsored his artistic approaches.