In recent years Enrique has taken part in important joint international exhibitions of young Spanish artists. Many people see him as an “enfant terrible” of Spanish art, as the perfect example of an artist who is a calculated provocateur, and there are those who think that he is a master of the politically incorrect. Topics like the abuse and humiliation of women, and men, the recreation of the most unpleasant aspects of disease, the sexual abuse of children etc. appear constantly in his work.
Everything is relative and Enrique underlines this in his work. He sees this all from close up. But with a certain sense of exorcism, like gargoyles or grotesque faces on the doorways of houses whose real function is to ward evil away from the houses. In an exhibition that Enrique did a couple of years ago the collectors had reserved nearly all the pieces, but no one had seen the video. It was very ambigious, open to many interpretations. The day of the opening the collectors saw the video and no one bought the piece they had reserved.
Enrique doesn’t know how to define ‘normal’. Everything is unknown because no one knows what is going to happen the next minute. Years ago he did a piece entitled “El espiritu del hogar” (“The Spirit of Home”) which consisted of a video and a series of paintings. His mother appeared in it dressed up like a ghost, doing the housework. It was a reference to the mystery that we find in every corner, in every corridor, in every tap, in ever ironing board.
The word sinister describes those experiences that transforms you, that take you through an easthetic experience, that erase signs of melancholy, resentment, fear or any other state of paralysis.
Humour is used like a form of distancing. A touch of humour makes you lower your guard, it catches your unawares, you approach confidently and you get hit without being able to defend yourself. His three dimensional installations are placing the viewer inside the work, reproducing locations. He sees them as half finished stage sets. |
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