artnexus #23

One of the recurrent characteristics of contemporary art is the debate on identity as a fragmented and evanescent phenomenon which can be apprehended from various angles. What happens when we look at our own identity as depicted in our face? How real is the image which we see? Why do we accept some registers and reject others? These are some of the concerns which are explored in Monica Castillo's self-portraits, in which she questions the existence of homogenous concepts of representation, since the more she shows herself, the more alternatives she discovers to her own face. Her anatomical self-portraits explore both the popular arts with their symbols and traditions, and the tendency towards reproduction, in which the original content is gradually lost through constant repetition.

Despite her obsession with detail, her work brings us face to face with the question of essence and origin, the spirituality which lies hidden behind every mask.

Using such varied materials as oil, carboard, skins and bread, Monica Castillo uses her images to explore the problems of the face, in a process involving the fictions of reality, and which in turn raises another question: the extent to which our faces reveal who we really are. (See article written by Osvaldo Sánchez, page 48)

IVONNE PINI