Exhibition: «Shooting star and heart» by M. Benito Píriz at URIBITARTE40

The exhibition grew out of a drawing of a heart bursting out of the chest, pushing through the skin and T-shirt. An image that evokes the graphic portrayal of a lover who wears their heart on their sleeve, vulnerable and open. A fleeting impulse that, in an instant, can be contained, concealed or disappear.

Shooting star and heart is both the title and the outcome of an exploration of the forces of projection and restraint. Benito sees projection as a fleeting force that propels the body outwards, and lending itself to change, discovery and confrontation. An impulse that bursts forth like a shooting star, fading as the body tires or the emotion subsides. Restraint, by contrast, works inwards, regulating, holding and absorbing in a heartfelt, steadfast effort to guard and protect.

Doing things —from the heart— means choosing sensitivity and allowing emotion to become part of the movement, and having an outburst opens up the space needed to transform, move forward and continue shaping oneself. Indeed, M. Benito adopts a hybrid starting point: a fleeting heart that exposes and restrains itself at the same time. Rather than opposing concepts, projection and restraint both play a part in shaping an ever-evolving identity. Similarly, the works that make up the exhibition emerge from a constant exchange between outburst and protection, exposure and refuge, aggression and affection.

Benito Píriz’s technique is based on direct engagement with materials and continual observation of their potential for transformation and adaptability. The practice pays close attention to the materials’ physical qualities and to the tensions that arise through their manipulation and assembly in the studio. Driven by an interest in volume, texture and physical presence, the work takes shape through the use of soft materials such as foam and expanding foam, making it possible to create enveloping, flexible and vulnerable forms. These structures act as external skeletons, shells or absorptive surfaces that protect an interior while simultaneously creating it, giving rise to an ambiguous relationship between boundary and expansion.

The work takes as its starting point the protective strategies found in objects such as motorcycle bodywork, seats and safety barriers, understood as systems that safeguard what is valuable through physical constraints, restraints or coverings, without sacrificing an aesthetic dimension; such as systems designed to absorb impact and shield what they protect through robust structures or casings combining rigid materials with more flexible, soft or padded ones intended for insulation. A second skin or membrane that separates two spaces through a thin, flexible layer, acting as a physical barrier.

PUBLICATION

To mark the exhibition, Shooting star and heart, BilbaoArte is publishing an artist’s monograph designed by fellow artist Karlos Martinez B.; together with an accompanying text and other documentation, it will chronicle the entire process from the residency at BilbaoArte to the exhibition at URIBITARTE40. All this will be complemented by a text written by Mawa Ordúñez, an artist and researcher with whom they have previously worked; by photographies made by Judith Voet, and by a contribution from the artist Claudia Rebeca Lorenzo.