ANTITOPÍA

       

If you ask me if I'm a positive and cheerful man, I'll answer with a resounding yes. I consider myself completely happy and fulfilled, blessed with a wonderful life and grateful every day for being so privileged. I believe this vitality is usually reflected in my work, resulting in fun and joyful images that aim to bring well-being to the viewer. Precisely for that reason, this series is one of the hardest things I've ever done. It's a dose of reality that forces me to come down from my idyllic world —where I live most of the time— to come face to face with a society that is far from being as fair as it should be.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), a utopia is a "desirable plan, project, doctrine, or system that seems very difficult to achieve." Imaginative, difficult to achieve… well, impossible. By definition, before we even begin to think about a better, fairer, and more humane world, we're already putting up barriers and semantic limits. Some might think this is being realistic, a consistent definition. For me, it's the definition of mediocrity. It's the perfect excuse for not feeling guilty about doing nothing. Since a perfect world is impossible, why should I strive for it? Why should I care about it?

Don't be afraid of perfection, you'll never achieve it.

Salvador dalí

In my opinion, what the genius wanted to convey, with his characteristic sarcasm, is that the path to perfection is endless, yet it exists. We'll never reach it, granted, but there is a ladder we can climb, rung by rung, toward that unattainable utopia. I can't tell you what a perfect world is like. I wish I did. However, I do enjoy looking around, observing, and thinking deeply about what I see. And, unfortunately, there are many times when I don't like what I find at all.

Antitopia is my personal denunciation. It's my call to action for a society we all belong to and that we all build together. A society with many pending tasks, but with great potential to be better. Let's break free from those chains, those glass ceilings we impose on ourselves. Let's be stronger than our biggest excuses and create together a world—perhaps not perfect or utopian, but certainly more just, more humane, more equal, and more balanced.

I want to issue a final warning regarding these pieces, as some may reopen old wounds or offend sensibilities. Any humor you might perceive in these works is acidic, corrosive, and cynical, designed solely to sea these images into your retina. I'm sorry, but that's how it is. If any situation elicits a half-smile, I encourage you to revisit it and reflect on the character. What does he feel? What could he be thinking? My intention isn't to make you feel bad, just to make you aware. I want you to see that, although it may be hard to believe, these situations are also my fault and yours. The question is: Aren't we going to do anything about it?