Horacio Quiroz

DISTURBINGLY LIVELY
September 26, 2020

“Why should our bodies end at the skin, or include at best other beings encapsulated by skin?”
- Donna J. Haraway

To ask where one begins, and ends is to question the human condition; vita activa vs. vita contemplativa. While those terms remain limited to the body and mind, Donna J. Haraway asks us to think beyond the physical self and look past the horizon of our immediate worlds. She asks us to question the relevance we humans have bestowed upon ourselves as rulers of everything as we think about our environment as only needing saving for the sake of our survival. It is the interaction between what our skin holds and what is outside of it which creates a universal condition; constantly weaving itself into situational and environmental conflict. The anthropocentric view where the world only holds meaning as long as we humans give it one.

While maintaining his pictorial signature, Horacio Quiroz unleashes his concerns, and at times frustrations, with what society seems oblivious to; our distortion is not manifested at the skin but rather upon the world. With Disturbingly Lively, Quiroz gives new meaning to the grotesque and deformed by making the body the background of what surrounds it. Whether it be painting on canvas or pencil on paper, this latest project demonstrates an encapsulating view of our present time: The suffering human resorts to capitalism, not to find clear solutions to problems but rather to profit from them. We embolden ourselves as saviors of society and the planet while moonlighting as mercenaries of its resources. It’s by manipulating his perfected technique through cut out text, hidden details, and superimposed images, where he reveals what he considers to be the be-all and end-all of one universal truth.

Yes, we are alive; disturbingly so.

Dominique Suberville