Miguel Angel Rios. Walkabout

AKINCI is proud to announce Miguel Angel Rios' solo exhibition at Des Moines Art Center in Des Moines, Iowa (US).

Since 2000, the New York- and Mexico City-based artist Miguel Angel Ríos has been creating haunting and poetic works in video and mixed media. Walkabout presents a selection of five video and multimedia installations along with paintings and works on paper that demonstrate his unique relationship to the South American and Mexican landscapes.

The title of the exhibition invokes the traditional associations to rites of passage, spiritual awakenings, and self awareness that come from solitary encounters in the desert landscape. His personal relationship to this type of landscape is addressed through work that confronts the existential nature of identity, while questioning the subjectivity of experience.

Originally from Catamarca, Argentina, Ríos relocated to New York City in the mid-1970s to escape the dire political situation during the military dictatorship in that country. Although Ríos initially spent time in New York, he eventually relocated to Mexico, where he was able to reestablish a connection with Latin America yet keep a safe distance from the political strife in his native country. Through his experience of political dislocation, major themes in his work range from the exploration of alternate states of mind, cultural and political conflict, and violence. The most recent works in the exhibition, however, return to his childhood home, which provide moments of contemplation and observation through the abstract texture of sound.

Miguel Angel Ríos: Walkabout is organized by Senior Curator Gilbert Vicario, and will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalog edited by Vicario and featuring contributions by an internationally recognized group of critics, curators, and art historians including Ruth Estevez (Mexico City), Julieta Gonzales (Madrid), Rafael Rubinstein (New York/ Houston), and Osvaldo Sanchez (Mexico City).

Miguel Angel Rios
Walkabout