To conceive the existence as an act of memory; to experiment the identity as a perpetual detachment from the skins, the surfaces, and the clothes. With this collection, Alfredo Romero Campos distances himself from the usual perception of Art towards tracing the loss history and culture of the streets of Mexico.

In recent years, the visual artist has been developing the stratum, through which he has proposed a new relationship between art, ephemeral architecture and popular memory. Having as a central argument the recovery of Vestiges of popular labeling on walls, facades and walls of the neighborhoods of Mexico, throughout his work Romero offers an opportunity to thematize the contemporary world, establishing a counterpoint between the ephemeral and the perennial, the vertiginous mobility and calm, oblivion and memory. A powerful reflection on the passing of time, and the traces it leaves on the communal memory finds a main driving force in his work.

With the strappo technique, Romero extracts layers of facades of buildings encapsulating the timelines of these local communities from the last half century that otherwise would disappear. Messages, advertising, and propaganda were painted directly on the layered walls in Mexico. Back in his studio, the artist intervenes onto the artworks creating a bond between the past and the present.  These artworks become visual testimonies that relate the true history leaving a permanent imprint as references for the future generations.

His project gives the locals a voice by listening to the previous generational stories, the artworks become an indelible representation of their ancestors, allowing them to complete the full circle through the stages of grief.  

By extracting old facades, Romero is challenging the limits of delicate physical work, archive and art. He takes a damaged vestige from the streets – mostly from popular and poor neighborhoods - that local people find undesirable and turns it into a work of art that becomes part of museums and art collections. 

These works create a bridge between locals, art institutions and art connoisseurs,  allowing an open conversation about a common reference, putting them at the same table, exchanging about social, historical and cultural references, and relating to one another. 

In DESPIEL, the most recent exhibition of the artist, Alfredo Romero delves into the technique to play with the volume, movement and density of the vestiges. This novel series constitutes a bold provocation to vacate life, shed the clothes that dress us and show that accumulation of clothes in a new order and arrangement, hung and supported in other memories. DESPIEL constitutes a sensory journey through the skin, clothing and facades that we have given ourselves socially and individually. And putting on display that brash otherness in motion that we are and have been, through the 12 works that make up the series, the artist himself sets the example and leaves his skin here.

More information:

 eve@simardbilodeau.com 

IG: @simard_bilodeau_contemporary @alfredoromerocampos