human suit
TH, Traje Humano is an artistic proposal that delves into the duality of the tangible and the intangible, the visible and the invisible, the physical and the immaterial, of the human being. Through 29 large-format works and multidisciplinary artistic expressions, painting, sculpture, installation, video, design, Man Yu and his invited artists reflect the historical attempt of humanity to verify their abstract truths, their souls, with the ephemerality of their creations, knowing that the essential cannot be verified by itself without physical interventions that seek to prolong, decipher, each particle of its expiring materialization full of realities without an answer to the question that is repeated insistently in each of the works: " What are we?".
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The first work in the collection was made in 1987. Man Yu, immersed in this premature reflection, materialized this dense and abstract concept for the first time when he was just 9 years old. However, it was not until 2013 when Man Yu felt the call to delve again into this recurring question and be able to reveal it through his brush. The first human costume was painted as a helpless outlet, but the other works are the work of transforming this catharsis into poetry and communication.
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More about the project here
Processes with invited artists can be seen in detail here
Circuit route and Human Suit subprojects here
Critical and curatorial texts about the project here
Photographs of the activities on social media
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HUMAN SUIT
Year: 1987
Technique: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 60 x 50 cm (23,6 x 19,7’’)
I painted something a little disturbing for any 9-year-old girl: A size medium leather suit hanging on a hanger next to a wooden cradle in a dark corner of a room. I knew that the skin was just a suit and that my real-self rested in the crib, which at first sight, was empty
–Man Yu.
Catálogo de obras
Many works in the show used the same elements from the 1st Human Suit artwork that Man Yu painted as a child. Human skin represents the body that touched us. The clothes hanger represents the ephemeral time that sustains our physical life. Apart from these elements, Man Yu also added new ones that are not found in that painting, such as bodies in gray tones, which represent our metaphysical bodies, the true "me"; red threads, which represent the blood that make the mechanics of our "suit", and needles that mend our "human suit." All the works, the 29 oil paintings on canvas, indicate that there is something essential inside our skin. On the other hand, elements such as the mirror and the desks, are more than works, didactic resources that allow the viewer to be framed within the reality of the artist and the context of conceptualization of the message exposed in the works.
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Some paintings such as "Liberation", "Goodbye", "Attachment" point to the body as a prison and subtly suggest internalization to free us from the false identity that limits us. Likewise, they reflect how this need for liberation is sometimes a reason for separation. of two people who have different positions before their costumes.
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In contrast, works such as "The Kiss", "The Hug", "Falling in love" reveal that the body is what proves all existence, that only through bodies can we love, separate, express love. In addition, they reflect the harmony in which people are on the same plane of self-recognition of their costumes.
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Some works, such as "The Portal", "Materialization", "Power" and "The Lineage", describe our desire to possess this sophisticated "suit" to experiment, do, be and evolve, since, without it, how can we be able to exist on this plane ?, as well as reflect the great value of having a suit. But at the same time, there are works such as "Una Completa Desconocida", "La Otra Cara", "La Tercera Opinion" and "De Shopping 1", which warn us about the deceptions and illusions that the "suit" causes when perceptions and Decisions are based solely on material, earthly aspects of being.
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On the other hand, works such as "De Shopping 2", "The left glove", "Right glove", "A New Pledge", explicitly show the very basic concept of the recognition of one's own "suit", empowering the capacities that are given to us. awarded with the human suit. On the other hand, some works such as "Protección", "La Caída" and "Somnolencia" were created to describe strong and inexplicable feelings that transcend the physicality of people. Other works such as "The Perfect Plan" and "The Perfect Suit" delve into the satisfaction and fullness of being aware of the functions of the suit and the function it fulfills in our existence, understanding that the perfect suit can be one that does not exist, thus like the one we were given, whatever it is.
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Man Yu also sows existential questions with creations such as "Sentence", "Some Open Eyes", "The Dilemma", which start from the perspective of the soul or of an ethereal aspect, to raise the questions of how important is the physical existence?
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