Emilio Rojas, Mexico .:. venicelive.org

Emilio Rojas, Mexico

Lives and works in Vancouver, Canada.

Emilio Rojas was born in Mexico City. He is a multimedia and performance artist whose works explore the relation between the artist and his audience, interacting and exchanging roles. His works require the participation of the viewer, in order to set in motion the metaphors that unveil the intricacy of his art. The intrinsic relation with the body has been both his subject matter and medium. Exploring the mental and physical limits of his being, Emilio reevaluates standards of beauty, activism, gender, traditions and sexuality. He is currently living in Vancouver, B.C., enrolled at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. His performance, videos and collaborative works have been exhibited in United States, Canada, Austria, England, Germany, and Australia. Please check out his website : performancero.com

Artist statement :

As an artist I wish to push boundaries, create cathartic experiences and encourage the viewer to participate.

By working with performance, site and social specificity I try to experience a unique moment in time, space, aesthetics, and actions that create circumstances that challenge the audience. My body is not only a temple but the tool of my praxis and the vehicle for interaction with an ever-changing world. My practice enacts the connection between art, viewer and experience. Every performance is a unique incident for both myself and the spectator; an opportunity to expand my own physical, mental and social boundaries. I experience my life as a performance, and nurture my ideas with everyday stimuli. Writing down every idea that comes to mind no matter how absurd it might sound at the moment of its conception. Obsessed with ephemera, I collect objects that without knowing will become the artistic tools of a nearby future.

In my creative process I combine fieldwork with research, exploration with experimentation and an ongoing search for materials that speak to me through metaphors. The body is a constant source of my materials exploring the use of its debris and fluids as agents of meaning. I believe that art has the ability to create change, arise emotions and transform our beings which are in constant search of enlightenment. With a deep meditative practice I try to observe my process from a point of neutrality and also prepare my body to endure strenuous durational performances. Without meditation, yoga and having a deep connection with my body, my practice would be absolutely meaningless. It is through this negotiation with myself that I'm able to communicate with the audience, bridging art, activism and living with meaning and experience to create an enhanced aesthetic impression in the audience that produces some sort of catharsis. All the pieces should just be the matches that ignite a larger and more complex conversation with yourself and others.

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