ExhibitionSeptember 24, 2021· By Graciela Kartofel
Raul de Nieves: The Treasure House of Memory
A hyper multimedia artist who expresses himself in ornamental and emotive narrative exhibits The Treasure House of Memory at the ICA - Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. From the realization of stained glass as a two-dimensional work to the most unusual three-dimensional objects, Raul de Nieves' work indicates that the author works with an infinity of binders, on a variety of supports and with alternative materials - not exclusive to the visual arts.
Suppose one wonders what Raul's thematic path is. In that case, the answer has a parody style because the artist is devoted to elaborating shoes, fabrics, and ornate clothes as two of his costume allies in the various performances he has been doing, some with sound and performance by musical composers. Few works involve wood; he works fabrics as a fluid material and dresses them with pearls, sequins, glass, and synthetic beads held together with cement, resin, shiny artificial rhinestones, and/or cultured pearls, occasionally including photos, photocopies, paper, oil, and chevrons.
The ornaments combine scenes from art history, literary or filmic fantasy. Queer expressions cohabit in all the works, ethnological relations, lesbian, gay, and transgender references. Intense coloring and outstanding decorative concepts predominate in the works of Raul de Nieves, although in a balance of personal aesthetics. Eloquent as the films of the European courts of the XVI and XVII centuries, or qualifiable as a work of archetypal Versaillesque, La Fábula or El Abismo, also combines native art and indigenous aesthetics of his native Michoacán, Mexico.
Suppose one wonders what Raul's thematic path is. In that case, the answer has a parody style because the artist is devoted to elaborating shoes, fabrics, and ornate clothes as two of his costume allies in the various performances he has been doing, some with sound and performance by musical composers. Few works involve wood; he works fabrics as a fluid material and dresses them with pearls, sequins, glass, and synthetic beads held together with cement, resin, shiny artificial rhinestones, and/or cultured pearls, occasionally including photos, photocopies, paper, oil, and chevrons.
The ornaments combine scenes from art history, literary or filmic fantasy. Queer expressions cohabit in all the works, ethnological relations, lesbian, gay, and transgender references. Intense coloring and outstanding decorative concepts predominate in the works of Raul de Nieves, although in a balance of personal aesthetics. Eloquent as the films of the European courts of the XVI and XVII centuries, or qualifiable as a work of archetypal Versaillesque, La Fábula or El Abismo, also combines native art and indigenous aesthetics of his native Michoacán, Mexico.
