carlos amorales
1970, Mexico City
Carlos Amorales’s work focuses on language and the impossibility/possibility of communicating through means that are unrecognizable or not codified, including through sounds, gestures and symbols. Amorales experiments at the line between image and sign using an array of platforms such as animation, video, film, drawing, installation, performance and sound. His practice establishes different forms of translation—instruments become characters in his films, letters become shapes and narratives unfold as non-verbal actions. The foundation for many of Amorales’s explorations is the Liquid Archive, a project composed of shapes, lines and nodes instead of words, which was created by the artist in 1998 and built upon for over ten years. In addition to the Liquid Archive, Amorales continues to develop further alphabets and systems to translate texts ranging from museum labels to short stories. The work of Amorales inhabits a parallel world, one of his own making, that constantly evolves as new works are produced.
Amorales studied in Amsterdam at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (1996–1997) and Gerrit Rietveld Academie (1992–1995). He was artist in residence at the Atelier Calder in Saché, France (2012), Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne (MAC/VAL), Vitry-sur-Seine, France (2011) and part of the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship program in Washington, D.C. (2010).
Carlos Amorales lives and works in Mexico City.
narcissus' orgy, 2019
58 woven silk fabrics mounted on wooden frames
70.87 x 47.24 in. each
peep show, 2019
7 neon signs
on site installation. variable dimensions
installation view at stedelijk museum, amsterdam, 2019
ghost demonstration, 2019
acrylic on wooden panel
300 x 720 in. installed
installation view at the berkeley art museum and pacific film archive (bampfa), california, 2019
ghost demonstration (detail), 2019
acrylic on wooden panel
300 x 720 in. installed
ghost demonstration (detail), 2019
acrylic on wooden panel
300 x 720 in. installed
ghost demonstration (detail), 2019
acrylic on wooden panel
300 x 720 in. installed
learn to fuck yourself, 2017-2018
set of 72. gouache on paper
70.87 x 50.39 in. each
installation view of axiomas para la acción, muac museo universitario arte cotemporáneo, mexico city, 2018
learn to fuck yourself (detail), 2017-2018
set of 72. gouache on paper
70.87 x 50.39 in. each
black cloud, 2007-2018
on site installation. 45,000 black paper cutout moths affixed to the walls of large interior spaces
variable dimensions
installation view of axiomas para la acción, muac museo universitario arte contemporáneo, mexico city, 2018
my dear rational blonde, 1996-2018
hd video, color and sound
3:30 min
axioms for action, 1996-2018
set of 28. monotypes
39.76 x 27.95 in. each
installation view of axiomas para la acción, muac museo universitario arte contemporáneo, mexico city, 2018
axioms for action, 1996-2018
set of 28. monotypes
39.76 x 27.95 in. each
detail
life in the folds, 2017
alphabet of ocarinas placed over tables, forming a poem. high temperature enamelled ceramic, compressed aluminum sheets prepared with imprint, silkscreen and varnish, fixed on a steel tubular base. film black and white, with sound. set of 100 xerographic prints on paper
45.28 x 472.44 x 303.15 in. approx. installed
installation view at the 57th venice biennale, 2019
life in the folds, 2017
alphabet of ocarinas placed over tables, forming a poem. high temperature enamelled ceramic, compressed aluminum sheets prepared with imprint, silkscreen and varnish, fixed on a steel tubular base. film black and white, with sound. set of 100 xerographic prints on paper
45.28 x 472.44 x 303.15 in. approx. installed
life in the folds, 2017
alphabet of ocarinas placed over tables, forming a poem. high temperature enamelled ceramic, compressed aluminum sheets prepared with imprint, silkscreen and varnish, fixed on a steel tubular base. film black and white, with sound. set of 100 xerographic prints on paper
45.28 x 472.44 x 303.15 in. approx. installed.
installation view at the 57th venice biennale, 2019
detail
the cursed village (from the installation life in the folds), 2017
film black and white, with sound
13 min
partituras para ocarinas, 3 & 12, 2016
xerographic print on paper
11.02 x 8.46 in. each
el esplendor geométrico, 2015
installation with projection of el no me mires, hd video, color and sound; litography
variable dimensiones; 50 min
installation view of axiomas para la acción, muac museo universitario arte contemporáneo, mexico city, 2018
the tongue of the dead, 2012
photo roman. silkscreen on paper
14.76 x 22.44 inches
the tongue of the dead, 2012
photo roman. silkscreen on paper
14.76 x 22.44 inches
the tongue of the dead, 2012
photo roman. silkscreen on paper
14.76 x 22.44 inches
we'll see how all reverberates, 2012
steel, brass and epoxy paint
mobil a: 94.49 x 114.17 in. h x diam.
mobil b: 100.39 x 102.36 in. h x diam.
mobil c: 104.33 x 94.49 in. h x diam.
dark mirror, 2008
resin and automotive paint
157.48 x 96.46 x 15.75 inches
amorales vs amorales (my way, tijuana), 2000
video, color with sound
33 min 30 sec
interim, 1997
one-channel video projection on monitor, color
3 min 43 sec
Some of his most important exhibitions include: Rapsodias, Museo para la Identidad Nacional, Tegucigalpa, Honduras (2025); Carlos Amorales: Battle, Kula Gallery, Split, Croatia (2025); Carlos Amorales: Black Cloud, Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona (2025); La Retórica de la Máscara, Galeria Macchina, Escuela de Arte UC, Pontífica Universidad Católica de Chile (2024); Words of Mouth and Hands, kurimanzutto, New York (2023); La serpiente de los días, Museo Kaluz, Mexico City (2022); The Factory, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2019), Axiomas para la acción, organized by Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC-UNAM), Mexico City (2017); traveled to Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Mexico (2018); Herramientas de trabajo, organized by Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MAMM), Colombia (2017); traveled to Museo La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia (2018); Prelude, Bellas Artes Projects, Manila, Philippines (2017); We’ll see how all reverberates, National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, Australia (2015); El esplendor geométrico, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2015); The Man Who Did All Things Forbidden, Cine Nilo, Santiago de Chile (2014) and Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania (2014); Germinal, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2013); Supprimer, modifier et préserver, Musée d’Art Contemporain du Val-de-Marne (MAC/VAL), Vitry-sur-Seine, France (2011); Vivir por fuera de la casa de uno, Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico (2010) and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Mexico (2010); Working Class Today… Mañana Nuevos Ricos!, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany (2009); Dark Mirror, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2008) and Daros Museum, Zurich, Switzerland (2007); Faces, The Moore Space, Miami (2007); Contemporáneo 18: Carlos Amorales, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) (2006); ¿Por qué temer al futuro?, organized by Casa de América, Madrid (2005); traveled to Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz (2005); and Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte (MUCA) Mexico City (2006) The Forest, as part of The 59th Minute, Creative Time, New York (2004); Carlos Amorales: Fighting Evil (with Style), USF Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, Florida (2002), among others.
His work has also been included in group exhibitions at institutions such as: El horizonte siempre se aleja, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2025); An Unlikely Inventory: Dialogues with Surrealism, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2024); My Last Will, Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain (2024); En el interior del cielo, Collegium, Instituto de México en España, Madrid (2024); Animal Kingdom, Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skärhamn, Sweeden (2023); Alegorías del mal gobierno Parte 3, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City (2022); TODOS JUNTOS (All Together), kurimanzutto, New York (2022); Cien del MUAC, Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC-UNAM), Mexico City (2021); El círculo que faltaba, Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico (2020); and Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín (MAMM), Colombia (2019); Learn to Fuck Yourself, as part of Fun & Fury!, Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich, Switzerland (2017); Dreams&Dramas, Law as Literature, Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), Berlin (2017); How to read El Pato Pascual: Disney’s Latin America and Latin America’s Disney, Schindler House, MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles, CA (2017); Unresolved, de Appel, Amsterdam (2016); La la la Human Steps, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2015); Under the Same Sun: Art from Latin America Today, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2014); Un Nouveau festival / BOOK MACHINE, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2013); Tour d’Horizon – Werke aus der Sammlung Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland (2012); Proyecto Juárez, Matadero Madrid (2011); Hareng Saur: Ensor and Contemporary Art, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, Belgium (2010); DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture, Tate Liverpool, United Kingdom (2009); Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art, Barbican Centre, London (2008); The Rocky Mountain People Show, Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Italy (2008); PAIXÓNS PRIVADAS, VISIÓNS PÚBLICAS, Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo (MARCO), Spain (2008); All About Laughter: Humor in Contemporary Art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2007); New Perspectives in Latin American Art, 1930–2006: Selections from a Decade of Acquisitions, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2007); Los Ángeles-México. Complejidades y heterogeneidad, Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2006), among others.
Amorales has participated in many international biennials, including 10th biennal nationale de sculpture contemporaine, Québec, Canada (2022); Oku-Noko Triennale 2020+, Japan (2021); Biennale Internationale d'Art Mural, Lille, France (2019); Mexican Pavillion at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017); 10th Shanghai Biennale, China (2014); 8 and 2 Berlin Biennale (2014 and 2001); Sharjah Biennial 11, United Arab Emirates (2013); 12th and 10th Bienal de la Habana, Cuba (2015 and 2009); 5th Seoul International Media Art Biennale (2008); 2 nd Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art (2007).
Museo Kaluz presents Carlos Amorales La serpiente de los días.
Carlos Amorales, Gabriel Orozco, Damián Ortega, and Minerva Cuevas are participating in the exhibition "cien del MUAC".
We are thrilled to be a part of this new gallery-led initiative - an online community of 50+ galleries dedicated to art from the Global South and its diaspora.
kurimanzutto is proud to participate in Art Basel OVR: Miami Beach 2020 featuring a selection of works by: Gabriel Orozco, Nairy Baghramian, Haegue Yang, Jimmie Durham, Damián Ortega, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Carlos Amorales, Roberto Gil de Montes, Wilfredo Prieto, Miguel Calderón.
On the Razor’s Edge is an international exhibition that brings together works within four thematic sections: migration and liberty; the human body; its environment; and the irrepressible and forever incomplete passage of time.
Read Carlos Amorales' thoughts and reflections on Covid-19 times.
Visit the exhibition The Factory by Carlos Amorales trhough a virtual tour and explore the artist's world of images.
Read full article about Carlos Amorales's reusable mouth mask project.
Read full article about Carlos Amorales' aid and sanitary protection project during the Covid-19 pandemic for people who work in the informal economies in the streets of Mexico City.
Read Carlos Amorales' manifesto titled Axioms for action.
Listen to Carlos Amorales' playlist Life in the folds on Spotify.
Eldorado seeks to be a movement that highlights the qualities on which the wealth of the Lille region is built: its inhabitants and their ability to invent new models for better living together, its companies, which are innovating to create a new economy and a network of links between artists, researchers and citizens.
For the Fondazione Adolfo Pini has conceived the exhibition l'ora dannata centred on the installation of the environmental dimensions Black Cloud and on various elements related to the project Life in the folds. The exhibition also includes silhouettes and other works by the artist, in a continuos change between images and signs.
In this new commission for the BAMPFA Art Wall, entitled Ghost Demonstration, Amorales draws from the multiple histories of mural art in Mexico, the political demonstrations that occurred in Berkeley in the 1960s (as well as more recent events), and protests in the United Kingdom in the 1980s.
Axiomas para la acción is a review of twenty-two years of Carlos Amorales' career proposed as an exhibition that emphasizes the conceptual aspects of his work.
The artist is mainly interested in language and the impossibility or possibility of communication through non-recognizable or un-codifed forms such as sounds, gestures and symbols, experiencing at the same time, the limits of image and sign through different mediums such as animation, video, cinema, drawing, installation, performance and sound.
