Photo: Melissa Schriek
My practice explores how materials carry histories, beliefs and relationships across time and cultures. Working primarily with glass beads, embroidery and sculpture, I transform familiar objects into ceremonial vessels that open up new ways of seeing and relating to the world, suggesting alternatives to established systems of power and representation.
Glass beads have become central to my work. I continue researching their role in shaping histories of migration, global trade, colonial power and ritual use, tracing how these seemingly modest objects have connected people, places and ideas for centuries. I am particularly interested in how ornament can be understood beyond decoration and become a tool for critical enquiry. I see beadwork as a language that can generate micro-spaces for knowledge exchange, nourishment and world-building, one bead at a time.
My work often draws inspiration from ancient ritual objects, craftsmanship and contemporary popular culture. Rather than recreating these references, I bring them into conversation through labor-intensive processes that combine beadwork, embroidery, glassblowing and found materials. Basketballs, chairs, motorcycle parts, textiles and other everyday objects connected to my personal experiences become repositories for speculative mythologies, tactile intimacy and talismanic presence.
Research and making are inseparable in my practice. Conversations with craftspeople, museum collections, historical artifacts and living traditions continually shape my work, allowing each project to emerge through curiosity, experimentation and collaboration. My most recent project at the Santa Fe Art Institute and the Institute of the American Indian Arts is an example of my commitment to engage with communities in honest and respectful ways.
Based in Amsterdam, Mañes Rubio graduated from the Royal College of Art London in 2010. He is also co-founder of the Design Museum Dharavi, an educator, TED Fellow and recipient of the S&R Foundation Washington Award. His work is exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul, Santa Fe Art Institute, Institute of American Indian Arts, Victoria & Albert Museum London, Royal Academy of Arts London, Design Museum London, La Triennale di Milano, Royal Museums Greenwich, ESEA contemporary UK, Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, Rotterdam & Leiden, Rijksmuseum Boerhave, Het Nieuwe Instituut Rotterdam, 21c Museum, Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts Lausanne, The New York Times Art for Tomorrow Doha and Power Station of Art Shanghai.
“There is a nebulous factor that successful artists and Jorge Mañes Rubio have. This factor is a relentless, yet stylish, drive to accomplish something significant, to make a difference, to fulfill a vision—in a big way. It’s inexorable. Jorge recontextualizes the common and overlooked in our society and reveals it to us in a way that makes us know more about what we thought we already understood. And he does it with a warmth or humour that includes us—not excludes or demeans. There’s a compassionate, shared, embracing energy to his art. It draws us in, makes us more aware and more human.”
Paul Klein, Klein Artists Works Chicago.
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