Born in Tijuana, Mexico, Milena Muzquiz lives and works in Los Angeles. Her ceramics can be interpreted as an exercise of subjective scrutiny; the disorganised accumulation of elements seeks to imitate the uneven and contradictory way in which the human mind works. The resulting sculptures are close to decorative arts, since they can function as vases, but they always go beyond mere functionality and present themselves as characters. This replicates Muzquiz’s capacity to construct theatrical environments without the need of a script or a stage. The artist reconciles a traditional sculptural medium with fully contemporary necessities.

Performance is an essential aspect of many of Muzquiz’s artistic projects. One of them was the group Los Super Elegantes, which she founded with Martiniano López Crozet in the nineties; this became a combination of installation, video art and music, which circulated in both institutional spaces such as museums and art fairs, but also in music festivals around Latin America. With this project the artists referenced the fantasy of music understood as mass entertainment as a moldable and open possibility; Muzquiz will reflect this afterwards in her individual work by altering the dynamics of the exhibition space, incorporating performative and participative aspects.

Milena Muzquiz has had solo exhibitions at David Gill Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2019); Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, led by the Getty Foundation (2017); Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, Spain (2017, 2014); Travesía Cuatro, Guadalajara, Mexico (2014); Pantaleone Gallery, Palermo, Italy (2010); Interior Projects, Los Angeles, United States (2008); and Deitch Projects, New York, United States (2000).

POSTED in 2016