Jorge Mañes Rubio creates artworks that rethink our relationship with the universe and all the beings that live in it, suggesting alternatives to established systems of power and representation. He takes common objects and images, and reimagines them as powerful entities, exploring the role that materiality plays in the negotiation and production of myth, identity and place. With his fascination for ancient ritual objects and their inherent knowledge, he continues to honour the extensive circulation of ideas, works and people that came before us. His works are always the result of an intuitive, exhausting, time-consuming process, fruit of experimentation with diverse materials and techniques. These works are embellished with glass beads, sequins, hair extensions, freshwater pearls, rhinestones and other vibrant materials. The results are alluring compositions, a constellation of symbols and multi-layered stories that visualize the interconnections between material and spiritual worlds. In fostering new relationships between the physical and the intangible, Mañes Rubio offers us a chance at re-enchanting the world we live in.
Based in Amsterdam, he graduated in Design Products from the Royal College of Art London in 2010. He is also co-founder of the Design Museum Dharavi, a TED Senior Fellow, MA Contextual Design tutor at Design Academy Eindhoven and a recipient of the S&R Foundation Washington Award. In recent years he has established several collaborations with institutions such as the Centro de Artes Indígenas and the European Space Agency, where he proposed a visionary alternative plan to reimagine the future of space exploration, now turned into a thought provoking TED talk.
His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul, Victoria & Albert Museum London, Royal Academy of Arts London, Design Museum London, Tropenmuseum Amsterdam, La Triennale di Milano, Royal Museums Greenwich, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art Manchester, Museum Volkenkunde Leiden, Rijksmuseum Boerhave, Wereldmuseum Rotterdam, 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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