‘Spirit Vessels’ is a new series of sculptures by artist Jorge Mañes Rubio. These works explore the ancestral idea of material culture being embedded with a life force, a spiritual quality that is activated through ceremonial exchange, ancestor worship and other forms of ritual. While occupying a physical space in our world, the meaning and real purpose of these objects is to open new ways of communication between humans and an intangible dimension; to mediate in an endless negotiation between two distinct yet inseparable realms.

Bright colours, bold textures and a wide range of materials —from plastic gemstones and glass beads to clay, sand and raw pigments— bestow these objects a humble, undeniable familiarity. Their gracious names suggest a certain awareness, as if striking up intimate conversations with us. In fact, these images speak to us about human renovation and the possibility of finding comfort in times of upheaval. With Spirit Vessels, the artist acknowledges an ever changing, interconnected spiritual dimension without which we cannot exist nor find purpose, emphasizing the role humans have played from times immemorial in maintaining a fragile cosmic balance.