ALEJANDRO GARCIA CONTRERAS

Frágil : El Misterio De Los Seres Sensibles

November 18th - December 23rd 2023

Swivel Gallery is thrilled to present Alejandro García Contreras’s first major solo exhibition in the United States, Frágil : El Misterio De Los Seres Sensibles.

Mixing contemporary pop culture with Mexican folklore, ancient myths, occultism and religion, Contreras stages a syncretic continuum of cultures and traditions across time and space, as part of his quest to grasp the mystery of the genesis of the Universe, a perpetual catechism that encapsulates all humans throughout their journey.

Born in Chiapas, Mexico, Contreras’s practice is informed by a multilayered narrative, simultaneously encompassing the rich and deistic heritage of his homeland, coupled by philosophical concepts his zealous spirit and receptive curiosity have encountered around the world.

The artist combines these into a stewed barrage of imagery leaving the viewer spellbound. Shaped largely by his life experiences, Contreras approaches his work in a manner where he acts as both alchemist and shaman. His material exploration and his conjuring of symbolic references stems from the entire course of civilization: through his process the artist seems to transfer the entirety of life itself and the unknown while engineering his visionary ceramics and bronze works, and contrarily releases them through imaginative paintings.

In this respect, Jacobo Grinberg’s studies hold inuence on the artist’s work: his Syntergic Theory stipulates that the structure of the experience is the result of an interaction between an energetic eld created by the brain (the neuronal field) and the energetic structure of the Universe where life and destruction convene in a liminal space, where the mystery of the genesis can be evoked again.

In his densely elaborate vessels, the artist synthesizes legends, animals, anime, pre-Hispanic symbology, supernatural beings, demons, sex, cum, eyes, re, heaven, hell, and everything in between into vibrant vehicles whose surfaces echo the colorful costumes of Carnival or Dia de los Muertos, embracing the relationships Mexican culture has with life, death, and rebirth.

Contreras merges the ancient with the current, connecting truths across timelines oftentimes fusing historic tales retold through contemporary cultures such as Japanese underground anime, revealing recurring symbols and beliefs channeled across the globe oering in their result an unltered expression of our deepest fantasies, and perhaps, nightmares. Heroines rebelling the subjugation of the male gaze are the protagonists of his vases. Proving awareness of their desires and seductive power, they stand in juxtaposition to their male counterpart, most often reduced to a faceless spirit or demon that chases, searches for, and needs them, for his own pleasure, becoming a victim of his own desires.

Contreras intentionally highlights this vulnerability of one's sexual instinct for its counterpart, seeking and grasping towards higher purposes to preserve balance and love. These works guide us towards the realms of a collective consciousness, where natural elements and creatures can coexist beyond the constraints of civilization, society, and religious taboo. Alejandro García Contreras’ work is a holistic and syncretic ode to our innite individualities, encouraging us to embrace a new spiritual universality.

The commonalities between the artists from two dierent, but intertwining perspectives are therefore in need of context, and their sources. The backgrounds of both artists born into the late eighties, one of an Albanian refugee escaping communism after the fall of the regime in 1991, amidst the economic collapse and social unrest, and the other witnessing the slow, silent crumbling of Midwestern America, where crises of industry, morality, and faith have shuttered over the last decades. It is worthy to acknowledge the state of desperation can be and is a prerequisite for exploitation, and that restraint is often right next to recklessness. There is a way to nd freedom and chance within a landscape of control, assessing natural mechanisms of adaptation, and inventing unique inversions that blur boundaries, overturn expectations, and conate our physical reality with mysterious possibilities.

Alejandro García Contreras (b. 1982, Tapachula Chiapas, MX) characterizes his creative work by experimentation and dialogue between different materials and technical resources, making his work a mix between various media such as painting, sculpture, photography, video and graphics. The themes of his work are linked to his personality, and through his artistic projects, he explores topics and themes inspired by contemporary popular culture, Mexican folklore, myth, occultism and religion.
He holds a bachelor's degree in Visual Arts from the National Institute of Fine Arts (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes) in Mexico City, Mexico.
His work was the winning acquisition of the 2006 Artfest WTC, and he is a two-time recipient of the FONCA / Young Creators Scholarship.
Contreras has held solo exhibitions at Proyecto NASAL, Gamma Galleria, David Castillo, Albertz Benda, House of Gaga, Travesia Cuatro, Saenger Galeria, and Eito Eiko among others. He has been included in art fairs such as NADA, New York with Swivel Gallery and ArtOsaka with Eito Eiko.