The series of paintings presented in this exhibition revolves around a recurring motif, in perpetual mutation from one canvas to the next. It originates from a realistic portrait of Aguirre’s grandmother, begun while he was still a student, and left unfinished at the moment of her death. He never completed the painting, left Ecuador for France, and did not touch a brush for six years, directing his practice instead toward performance, ritual, photography, and the making of tapestries connected to his projects.

In 2021, Aguirre returned to painting at the exact point where he had left it, having understood that this communication with his deceased grandmother constituted his only possible entry into painting, and a pathway into the worlds he claims as his field of action. This series of paintings, marked by shamanism (Aguirre’s father is a shaman, and he performed a ritual on the evening of the opening), thus seeks to resurrect a presence and make it work in the present.

The realistic portrait that serves as the starting point of the series is constantly evolving—reworked, decomposed, recomposed, animated by an ascensional movement that reflects Aguirre’s relationship to images. The kilim that accompanies the series depicts the form of an orchid, evoking the female uterus; in the same way, each canvas is paired with its photographic negative, revealing the magical reversibility of every figuration.

Nicolas Bourriaud