For the final session of Siembra in kurimanzutto, the artist Jou Morales presents a series of recent paintings for the exhibition Atlas de la loma / Atlas of the Hill. The work emerges from a mix of strident and hypnotic sounds and colors, graphic references drawn from contemporary culture,

playful experiences, and daily life, that the artist has expressed through his canvases. The beings depicted in the paintings—deformed and palpitating—mutate, self-construct, cannibalize one another,

intermingle, and collapse in a non-linear narrative. These protagonists develop throughout scenes that are approximations to elements of the composition of other paintings in the series, which unfold without a clear beginning or end. A bone, a cell, or a rock, expanded, now form a third plane capable of incorporating new elements which will then be expanded upon in another painting. All of the pieces are interconnected and generate a narrative cycle composed of pauses, replications, reprieves, and self-referential citations.

3, 2, 1…………………… The curtain falls.

Amorphous masses or chewing gum wander through the

streets putrified beneath foot soles and bare feet, this

substance of pastel colors gradually amasses solid material,

microscopic garbage, and organic waste which in turn

increase its volume.

¿Could it become uncontainable, could it crush us?

Over the course of its journey, the amalgamation leaves parts

of itself in its wake, throughout various parts of the landscape,

creating microscopic ecosystems that themselves give rise to

new life.

Everything is a cycle, nothing resembles anything, everything

continues to palpitate.

¿At how many GHz?

¿What would happen if a bum were to eat this mass, or a dog,

or some passerby high as a kite?

Let us imagine the movement transpiring on the inside of their

bodies, de-fragmenting slowly and fusing itself to their beings,

rising rapidly up their backbone. Contemplated from this

mythical wasteland an abyss towards the unknown,

indecipherable thoughts and objects, the immensity of

consciousness.

Was this what David Friedrich was thinking of with

“Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog”?

Like anything ingested by the body, this too must be expelled

Silence……………………………………….

The cycle repeats, the characters change, the setting changes.

T he life remains the same.

about the artist

Jou Morales (Oaxaca de Juárez,Oax, 1990) received his degree in Fine Arts at the Universidad Autónoma “Benito Juárez” in Oaxaca (201 1 -2015) y the Clínicas para la Especialización en Arte Contemporáneo para Oaxaca (CEACO) ( Training for the Specialisation in Contemporary Art in Oaxaca) at the

Curtiduría Espacio Contemporáneo (2015-2016). He is co-founder and member of YOPE projects space, a space dedicated to the dissemination of local, national, and international contemporary art, with which he has been the recipient of various grants such as the PAC / Patronato de Arte

Contemporáneo (2019), FONDO DE APOYO PAC / COVID - 2019 / Patronato de Arte Contemporáneo (2020) and Curarte es Guelaguetza / Secretaría de Cultura from the Mexican Government and the Secretary of Culture and Art of Oaxaca (2020).

He has exhibited at the Musée International des Arts Modestes (MIAM) / UK, FRICHE LA BELLE DE MAI / UK, Galería Kurimanzzuto / CDMX, the Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca (IAGO) / OAX. Among others.

In 2020, he received Mexico’s FONCA Jóvenes Creadores grant.