renata morales

inane and mundane evolutionary tales of fear love and horror

Splattered and expressionistic layers of paint, ceramic and found objects create a set of emotional information that evokes an overly marked art workshop. Any connection to illusion quickly dissipates, it’s all emotion and energy. The layers of color evoke bodily fluids or toxic chemicals rather than beautiful ideals. Raw, physical and overpowering, the images and forms consume our attention – pulling us closer to their iconography. A quick glance is nonexistent, it’s a visual quick-sand that overwhelms the senses, an elaborate theatrical prop that sets our minds in motion. 

This is Renata Morales, her art. Morales’ impulsive brushstrokes utilizing water color, acrylic on paper or glazes on ceramics are  merely a vehicle for connecting thoughts and ideas. Her labor is visible as soon as she intervenes her paper or ceramic subjects.  

Morales’ work is about moving past a critical disposition. Her post-conceptual thinking, in which ideas - along with personal artistic directives - become more important than the final objects pave the way for construction and deconstruction to exist in harmonious chaos. Here, labour and irreverence trumps the middle-class myth that art must revere antiquated notions of classical figurative painting or sculpture. 

Her works reflect and sometimes reject numerous cultural references - from Renaissance painting, to early European modernism, to present day urban markings and graffiti. Morales’ approach to her art that incorporates faces, figures, and abstract classical forms are the core of her practice. She is not content with general surrealist connections, but in examining larger social structures and the history of craft and its influences. Every work is a manifesto that proves that art is alive and kicking and that even in mayhem there is method.

Renata Morales: Inane and Mundane Evolutionary Tales of Fear Love and Horror is made possible with lead support from Rodger Kobes + Michael Keller and the generous support of LALO, Canada Council for the Arts and José.

about renata morales

Born in Mexico City in 1975 to a pianist mother and a writer father, Morales started to paint and draw obsessively since she was a child, strongly encouraged by her mother. She spent part of her childhood in France, where she took lessons with artist Nadine Feuz and regularly visited museums and art galleries. After moving to the United States, Morales developed her love of music and was captivated by the newly emerging discipline of rock videos, before relocating to Canada with her family in 1989. She received formal fine arts training at Lionel Groulx College before turning to fashion design, collaborating with musicians, performers and photographers. For the following fifteen years, Morales had a very successful career as a fashion designer and art director. She is widely known for her work creating fashion designs for musicians such as Arcade Fire and was nominated Canadian Designer of the Year in 2001 and 2003. She received the Ariane ward for Design Excellence in 2006 and the LUX award for photography and Art Direction in 2007. Recently, Morales collaborated with Denis Villeneuve, Pedro Pires and Grimes, among others, and has collaborated with institutions such as the Fine Arts Museum in Montreal and the Venice Biennale. Since 2021 she has been in an artist in residence at Ceramica Suro, developing new techniques in ceramics.

renata morales in conversation with exhibition curator peter doroshenko

What have you been working on in the last year?

I presented a large exhibition over two galleries in Venice during the Biennale and mounted two exhibitions in Guadalajara and one in Montreal. Most of the work that I've been showing was made with Ceramica Suro. I've also been working on some sculptural lighting for a Hotel project in Canada, new drawings and prints for a streetwear label project and some paintings for an exhibition in Mexico City. Due to COVID, many things have halted, but I draw every day.

What has been the interest in making your drawings? Is it a precursor to your sculptures?

Drawing is at the core of my practice. Everything I do stems from drawing, though my sculpture process has been influencing my drawing over the past year.

Which artist or group of artists have influenced you the most?

I am a massive music fan. Most of the artists that have influenced or inspired me are musicians, some of them my friends, and I work on their projects.Artists inspire me for different reasons, some for their ideas and some for their process.

Pierre Soulages, Louise Bourgeois, El Anatsui, to name a few. I am influenced by several Mexican artists- Jose Guadalupe Posada was a great precursor of street art, his work has inspired me since I was very young. Also, the fantastic and almost obsessive work from "outsider" artists Ferdinand Cheval and Henry Darger. For Contemporaries - pretty much everybody at Sadie Coles - Lately, Alex da Corte and Jordan Wolfson ( I have yet to watch Split Earth )

In a league of her own - Rei Kawakubo's whole body of work has been an important force and presence for the arts in general. Independently or in collaborations and initiatives, such as Dover Street Market, I highly respect and admire her.

How has your work evolved in the past three years?

I have developed new perspectives through my drawing and painting practice. I have learned more about electronics and mechanics as well. Combining these techniques across disciplines has set me on a new path that I have applied to my sculpture and textile work. This allows me to plan the creation of complete landscapes or more immersive environments.

How did ceramics integrate into your studio practice?

Ceramics form part of my roots. Growing up in Mexico, I was exposed early and always remained interested in the vast artisan works and folkloric traditions that are shared through generations.I was able to incorporate ceramic sculpture into my practice because of Ceramica Suro, which allowed me to have a studio in Guadalajara in addition to my Canadian spaces. At the factory, Jose Noe and his team have been able to push the boundaries in ceramic production stemming from the traditional ways of the past and opening a whole new - and almost limitless-world of possibilities.

When you are in your studio, do you work with the idea of creating a series of works or possibly for a specific project?

I tend to be very focused when developing work for specific projects, I am quite disciplined and become completely absorbed by everything it involves to achieve each one. I spend the rest of my time doing personal research, which involves drawing and painting.

What has been the underlining story for your most recent sculptures?

The search for identity and belonging in what has been my nomadic existence.Transformation.My relationship with my birthplace, Mexico, it's past and it's present, and the artisans I get to work with and how they live.I am very interested in humanity and what it represents, from kindness to violence and our attachment to the environment seen through the eyes of how we were brought up or the lives we lived so far.These stories morph into different monsters and fantastical characters that I then sculpt. The girl- in all its forms- being the most recurring one.

What have you been reading as part of your research for your current work?

I listen to audio-books while I work. I finally took up The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, El Otoño del Patriarca from Gabriel García Màrquez and revisited Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky.

My colleagues at Ceramica Suro got me into Relatos en el Campo ((Historias de Horror) podcasts, I listen to these when I am abroad for too long and get Saudade for working together again.

Who do you reach out to for critical feedback?

Josh Olson, who can be brutal but always in a constructive way Jose Noe Suro from Ceramica Suro. My best friend Clayton Evans, who is an incredible talent and highly cultured and informed across different disciplines. He is very generous but also a slayer.I like discussing with gallerists as well, and getting their pragmatic view on things.

What are your next steps in the studio? What are you focused on?

Exhibiting, producing and collaborating - in these current times - Staying alert and informed, open and nimble.

 renata morales

cuentos evolutivos tontos y mundanos de miedo, amor y horror

Las capas de pintura salpicadas y expresionistas, la cerámica y los objetos encontrados crean un conjunto de información emocional que evoca un taller de arte marcado en exceso. Cualquier conexión con la ilusión se disipa rápidamente, todo es emoción y energía. Las capas de color evocan fluidos corporales o tóxicas sustancias químicas en lugar de bellos ideales. Crudas, físicas y abrumadoras, las imágenes y formas consumen nuestra atención, atrayéndonos a su iconografía. Una mirada veloz es inexistente, es una rápida arena movediza visual que abruma los sentidos, un elaborado objeto de utilería teatral que pone nuestras mentes en movimiento.

Esta es Renata Morales, su arte. Las pinceladas impulsivas de Morales que utilizan acuarelas, acrílico sobre papel o esmaltes sobre cerámica son simplemente un vehículo para conectar pensamientos e ideas. Su labor es visible en el instante en que interviene sus sujetos de papel o cerámica.

La obra de Morales trata de la superación de una disposición crítica. Su pensamiento posconceptual, en el que las ideas, junto con las directivas artísticas personales, se vuelven más importantes que los objetos finales, allana el camino para que la construcción y la deconstrucción existan en un caos armonioso. Aquí, el trabajo y la irreverencia triunfa sobre el mito de la clase media de que el arte debe reverenciar las nociones anticuadas de la pintura o escultura figurativas clásicas.

Sus obras reflejan y, a veces, rechazan numerosas referencias culturales, desde la pintura del Renacimiento hasta el Modernismo europeo temprano, pasando por las marcas urbanas y el grafiti de la actualidad. El enfoque de Morales a su arte que incorpora rostros, figuras y formas clásicas abstractas es el núcleo de su práctica. No se contenta con las conexiones surrealistas generales, sino con el examen de estructuras sociales más amplias y la historia del oficio artístico y sus influencias. Cada obra es un manifiesto que demuestra que el arte está vivito y coleando y que incluso en el caos hay método.