“7 lobsters and a mirror”: The exhibition by Mariú Palacios that portrays the interval between pain and desire

For the artist Mariú Palacios, her art is like an introspection into the unconscious. This is demonstrated by her latest exhibition “7 lobsters and a mirror”, because, as if we were observing the interior of her soul through a peephole, it shows us –in the words of its curator José Falconi– the interval between pain and the desire.

After entering its exhibition space, we are flooded by an immaculate landscape: completely neat, almost clinical tiles and majolica. However, behind this facade intrinsic feelings of the artist herself are hidden.

The exhibition is made up of seven pieces, including collages, photographs and installations. First, we start with a wall made of white square tiles, which feature voyeuristic holes that bounce erotic images through a mirror. In addition to having portraits of Mariú herself, dressed as characters that –according to her– could be inside her.

Located almost at the entrance of the gallery, is the piece that tells us about the outcome of a toxic love. Thrown against the floor, we find a refrigerator covered by black majolica. Its base is destroyed and with roots growing out of it. “Usually the kitchen is the heart of a home, and in the center of it, we find the refrigerator. This is torn from its usual place since it represents the end of a relationship. As you can see, within it there are phrases that were ordered chronologically simulating the development of a love break-up”, he says.

If we look at the ground, under the roots we can see flying locusts from the jungle, completely petrified. “This locust is a predator and a pest, but it is very beautiful at the same time. How can something so beautiful hurt you at the same time? So this analogy comes up with people who ravage your soul,” he explains.

In the same way, Mariú works these feelings through a drum and drumsticks full of spikes, which have a plaque that says: YOURS. “It is as if the aggressor and the victim were represented. Yours, you and me, a union and also the sense of belonging”, she adds. Thus, a language is established between these two pieces, as if one were the consequence of another.

On the other hand, in the center of everything there are photographs with an intervention carried out by herself, in which she is wrapped in tablecloths with phrases that criticize Lima’s high society. “I placed the sentences in an unreadable way, as if we daily eat these words without realizing it,” she adds.

His works do not have titles, since he does not seek to pigeonhole himself. “Spectators usually focus on the meaning of these if they are designated with a name, I prefer everything to be under “7 lobsters and a mirror” and thus they can draw their own interpretations”, comments the artist.

The exhibition was curated by José Falconi, who made refrigerators and leather coexist; dry ice and writing; polished majolica; dry and clear roots, mirrors and locusts. With the idea that the viewer rummages between each of these contradictions until disoriented.