Carlos Amorales presents his project Orgy of Narcissus for Siembra 11. Since the beginning of his career, Amorales has considered the archive as a central part of his work. The materials in these archives have acted as a primary resource for the inception and development of Amorales’s imaginative and conceptual reflections that take on graphic approaches in diverse media: animation, music, film and writing. 

Orgy of Narcissus is among the artist's most recent projects, which he has been developing for more than 2 years. In this exhibition, Amorales shows us a series of drawings based on the character Narcissus, who is reconfigured through repetition using the manual drawing technique of tracing.

The archive, source, and matrix for this series of images is also presented in the center of the room. The origin of these which stems from a reflection on the Culture wars that have arisen on the internet in recent years. Amorales was inspired by the conflicts of social polarization that author Angela Nagle describes in her book "Kill All Normies". The artist is particularly drawn to the phenomenon of the Meme. In particular, the subversive use of ubiquitous characters, by subcultures of internet users, for the transmission of a multiplicity of messages with values that sometimes contradict each other.

Orgy of Narcissus dwells on the ideas of image authorship, their transformation, re-interpretation, and circulation through digital media by an anonymous mass. In the artist's opinion, this collective form of narrative denies the original intentions of the creator, his agency and his will. It dilutes the original meaning of the image, creating a collective narrative that questions the explicit meaning of the images.

The works were created and consistently reworked by hand, transforming shapes while remaining personal and original. The human figure appears hypersexualized and ambivalent in both gender and gestures, it looks at itself in a loop of patterns that unfold infinitely and thus form what the artist calls an epic of solipsism: the view that the self is all that can be known to exist removing all reference points.

This imaginary reflects the current existential and political condition, characterized by an exacerbated narcissism and hedonism. At the same time, this archive is a statement to claim back the authorship of the artist against its depersonalization by the masses.

Carlos Amorales studied in Amsterdam at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie (1996–97) and Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten (1992–95). He has participated in artistic residencies at the Atelier Calder in Saché (2012) and MAC/VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine in France (201 1), and as part of the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship program in Washington, D.C. (2010).

Some of his most important exhibitions include: The Factory, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2019), Axioms for Action, MUAC- Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, Ciudad de México, México (2018); Herramientas de trabajo, MAMM-Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín, Colombia (2017); Prelude, Bellas Artes Projects Outpost, Manila, Philippines (2017); Carlos Amorales, Turku Art Museum, Finland (2016); We Will See How Everything Reverberates, as part of The Dual Year of the United Kingdom and Mexico, Turner Contemporary, Margate (2015); The Man Who Did All Things Forbidden, Philadelphia Museum of Art, United States (2014); Germinal, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2013); Supprimer, modifier et préserver, MAC/VAL, Vitry surseine, France (201 1); Discarded Spider, Cornerhouse, Manchester, United Kingdom (2010); Working Class Today… Mañana Nuevos Ricos!, Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany (2009); Dark Mirror, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland (2008); Faces, The Moore Space, Miami, United States (2007); Carlos Amorales, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Argentina (2006); ¿Por qué temer al futuro?, Casa de América, Madrid and Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain (2005); The Forest, Creative Time, as part of the screening The 59th Minute in Times Square, New York (2004); Fighting Evil (with Style), USF Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, United States (2002).