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Manuel Aja Espil: Worlds of Exile
3 August - 14 October 2023 -
Manuel Aja Espil in his Buenos Aires studio, 2022 -
Aja Espil's Practice
Manuel Aja Espil’s imagination draws on both art history and popular culture. His fascination with science fiction and the dystopian gaze of nature and society leads to his thought-provoking compositions.
Aja Espil's painting was born of his need to create stories. Originally an aspiring filmmaker, he abandoned his initial plan and enrolled in the Artists' Program at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Argentina in 2016. He incorporates tradition, metaphor, and everyday surroundings in his practice, manifesting real and imagined memories.
Aja Espil's most recent paintings include seemingly malformed caricatures, lacking identifying features, such as gender, race, or personality, who are derived from characters of his childhood cartoons, comics, and movies. These playful representations intertwine reality and fantasy.
His works provoke the thought of new possibilities, intertextualities, and narratives. From the Pampa to an ice world in ruins, Aja Espil's compositions inspire us to think of his paintings as a reflection of our obscure world.
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Manuel Aja Espil, "Invasion of Wilkes Land," 2023, Oil on linen, 56 3/4 x 72 1/2 in (144 x 184 cm)
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Worlds of Exile at HM&C
Worlds of Exile was conceived in three groups of works and three genres: portrait and genre painting, landscape, and historical painting. Aja Espil looks to science fiction, art history, and the history of Argentina, as his main sources of inspiration. In doing so, he produces a narrative that recalls his memories of migrating to Spain. He worked on the series during that transitional time, a moment when he questioned his surroundings and place of belonging.
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Manuel Aja Espil, Contemplation, 2023, Oil on linen, 45 5/8 x 33 7/8 in (116 x 86 cm)
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Characters
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Manuel Aja Espil, Maja Reading, 2023, Oil on linen, 41 x 56 1/4 in (104 x 143 cm)
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Manuel Aja Espil, Inspiration, 2023, Oil on linen, 45 5/8 x 33 7/8 in (116 x 86 cm)
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Manuel Aja Espil, The Break, 2023, Oil on linen, 45 5/8 x 33 7/8 in (116 x 86 cm)
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Manuel Aja Espil, Azymetrikah, 2023, Oil on linen, 12 x 10 5/8 in (30 x 27 cm)
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Manuel Aja Espil, World of Exile, 2023, Oil on linen, 56 1/4 x 41 in (143 x 104 cm)
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Landscapes
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Manuel Aja Espil, Force Majeure, 2023, Oil on linen, 41 x 56 1/4 in (104 x 143 cm)
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Manuel Aja Espil, Moon, 2023, Oil on linen, 23 5/8 x 24 in (60 x 61 cm)
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Manuel Aja Espil, Earth, 2023, Oil on linen, 11 3/8 x 11 3/8 in (29 x 29 cm)
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Manuel Aja Espil, Patagonia, 2023, Oil on linen, 44 7/8 x 33 7/8 in (114 x 86 cm)
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History Painting
Manuel Aja Espil, "Invasion of Wilkes Land," 2023, Oil on linen, 56 3/4 x 72 1/2 in (144 x 184 cm)
In Aja Espil's history-inspired painting, he uses storytelling and metaphor as a poetic exercise for symbolic transformation. Inspired by science fiction, the artist considers painting as a means to transmit the knowledge of today's world to future generations.
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Earlier Works
Post-Pandemia (Exiles), 2022 -
Manuel Aja Espil, "Azymetrikah & The New World Order," 2019-2022, Oil on canvas, 75 1/4 x 65 3/8 in (191 x 166 cm)
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¡Pandemia! Series, 2020-2022
In ¡Pandemia!, Aja Espil transforms a pictorial world into his immediate environment, while being curious about the identity of the territory of Argentine society in contrast to a background haunted by the mortality and fragility that the pandemic revealed.
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Manuel Aja Espil in his Brooklyn studio at ISCP, 2022
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Installation View of Joseph Andreas at Quadro Arte Contemporáneo, Buenos Aires
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Manuel Aja Espil, Constants (of Joseph Andreas), Constantes (de Joseph Andreas), 2018
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Manuel Aja Espil, Joseph Andreas (The Narcissist), Joseph Andreas (El Narcisista), 2018
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Manuel Aja Espil, Journeys (of Joseph Andreas), Los Viajes (de Joseph Andreas), 2018
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Manuel Aja Espil, The Curator (of Joseph Andreas), El Curador (de Joseph Andreas), 2018
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Installation Views of "Joseph Andreas" at Quadro Arte Contemporáneo, Buenos Aires
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Installation View of Anton Regularis at Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires
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Manuel Aja Espil, Anton Regularis, The Saxon, Anton Regularis, El Sajón, 2017
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Manuel Aja Espil, Annunciation (of Anton Regularis), Anunciación (de Anton Regularis), 2017
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Manuel Aja Espil, Casa de la Infancia (de Anton Regularis), 2017
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Manuel Aja Espil, Journeys (of Anton Regularis), Los Viajes (de Anton Regularis), 2017
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Installation Views of "Anton Regularis" at Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires
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Installation Views of "La Cosa Soy Yo" (Thesis Exhibition) at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, 2016
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In the Studio
Aja Espil's studio practice involves working on a constellations of paintings, which cover roughly the entirety of the walls. The group of works or series become chapters of a bigger story. The studio is a panoramic view of the world that Aja Espil wants to present.
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Manuel Aja Espil in "Arte en Juego," Fundación PROA
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Manuel Aja Espil in "Terapia," MALBA
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Books That Inspire Manuel Aja Espil's Practice
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Publications
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Arte en Juego
Una Aproximación Lúdica al Arte Argentino, Fundación PROA, 2021Manuel Aja Espil participated in a group exhibition that presented a playful approach to Argentine art at PROA Fundación. -
Terapia
MALBA, 2021Manuel Aja Espil participated in a group exhibition at the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA).
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Manuel Aja Espil
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