Courtesy: Alejandro Montero Bravo
Scope BLN
presents
MAN MADE MONSTERS
Solo exhibition by Alejandro Montero Bravo
November 2 – November 29, 2024
Opening: Saturday, November 2 at 6:00 PM
MAN MADE MONSTERS is a large-scale sculptural installation that impresses with its organic presence in the Scope BLN’s space and at the same time with its deliberate confrontation and successful transformation of that same space.
The massive objects "explode" in the balanced cubes of the project room or the cinema room, but this explosion is not aggravating because it is "calmed" by the softness and attractiveness of the materials used.
Alejandro Montero Bravo choses textiles because they are traditionally seen as feminine, and they are used in bold, loud ways in order to challenge that traditional perception. These materials are combined with ceramics to create handmade shapes that feel soft and fragile, contrasting the strong, unapologetic expression of femininity in the textiles.
In this project, the artist explores how pop culture and history have portrayed bold femininity and feminine sexuality as villainous traits and focuses on how aesthetics has been used to control who gets to be feminine, shaping our self-expression and shaming those who break gendered rules. Society often turns marginalized groups into “monsters” by weaponizing aesthetics against them.
In their work the artist is always drawn to rethink how we view femininity and gender through the lens of aesthetics, being convinced that by understanding how aesthetics impact our everyday lives, we can see parallels between how we are treated and how we perceive both people and aesthetics.
The installation to some extent speculates on the concept of "monstrous feminine" historically created by feminist theorists like Barbara Creed, based on the abstract fear of female power, often associated with the body and sexuality.