Hilda Palafox
ARTIST
HILDA PALAFOX (MEXICO CITY, b. 1982)
PINTURA
MARZO 2022
The eagerness to find oneself
Hilda Palafox works with the representation of women from the reality of her body and her earthly existence, blurring the idealistic halo that has been imposed on the female figure throughout the history of art as a muse. In this conversation, Palafox shares with us the references that have influenced her work and the relationship between pictorial representation and the process of finding oneself.
Regina De Con Cossío: In your paintings there are a series of elements that remind us of Mexican painters from other times. How do you relate your pieces to Mexican art of the 20th century? Who are your reference painters?
Hilda Palafox: There is definitely a strong aesthetic influence from 20th century Mexican art in my work. Mainly painting and sculpture. I like the figurative and narrative trend that characterizes it. In my work it is reflected in the compositions that I handle or in the use of polychromatic palettes translated into my practice in a relaxed and current way.Some of the artists that have influenced me the most are Carlos Mérida, Olga Costa, Ricardo Martínez de Hoyos, Jorge González Camarena and Geles Cabrera or Luis Ortíz Monasterio in sculpture, to name a few.
RDCC: In the desire to find oneself, what disciplines or methods do you use to achieve it? So at first I imagine that for one to find oneself one could think of psychoanalysis, but also of confrontation with the other. How do you get it?
HP: Yes, I think there is a bit of diluted confrontation between the lines that are drawn within these pieces. But it is not my intention to relate my practice to any of these disciplines. I think that my work moves mainly through a more instinctive language and is based on concerns or emotions that travel from the individual or collective but without the need to analyze or provide answers.
RDCC: In the eagerness to find oneself, what disciplines or methods do you use to achieve it? Off the top of my head, I imagine that a person can find oneself through psychoanalysis but also through confrontation with the other. How do you get it?
HP: Yes, I think there is a bit of diluted confrontation between the lines that are drawn within these pieces. But it is not my intention to relate my practice to any of these disciplines. I think that my work moves mainly through a more instinctive language and is based on concerns or emotions that travel from the individual or collective but without the need to analyze or provide answers.
RDCC: How important is finding oneself as part of the artistic creation process?
HP: For me it is very important to be connected with myself to be able to create and at the same time I have to create to connect with myself. There can not be one without the other.
RDCC: The figures in your most recent exhibition are women. How does this purpose dialogue with everything that happens in Mexico around feminism?
HP: I am interested in using the female figure as the main instrument of expression; to invert and question the usual idea of women as a simple muse and project it towards a more earthly and more real language. Create a dialogue that reflects on the construction of female subjectivity.
RDCC: The description of your most recent exhibition speaks of architecture as a fundamental discipline in your artistic production and as an allegory of the mind. How do you conceive this relationship between architecture and art in your production process?
HP: I like to create ambiguous settings that place these characters in a timeless space. Using the fewest number of elements to give a sense of space, where a simple line creates a horizon that contains or expands, physically and mentally.
