DES BAINS presents Haunted Germs, Roger Muñoz first solo exhibition in the UK.
Muñoz sees drawing as an herramienta de pensamiento (a tool of thought), leveraging it to delve into narratives and references that span the esoteric, several underground subcultures, and the realm of tropical horror. The artist engages with the processes and poetics of the use of archival material as final art object, grappling with broader archetypes and iconographic fragmented devices.
Muñoz's practice, which is well-known for its engagement with the macabre, goth culture, death, and parody, is also infused with Latin American pop cultural imagery. The "tropical gothic", parasitic through the entirity of his practice, serves as an appropriation of im-ported Western visual cultures, blending them within a cliché-like Latin American landscape.
Muñoz sees drawing as an herramienta de pensamiento (a tool of thought), leveraging it to delve into narratives and references that span the esoteric, several underground subcultures, and the realm of tropical horror. The artist engages with the processes and poetics of the use of archival material as final art object, grappling with broader archetypes and iconographic fragmented devices.
Muñoz's practice, which is well-known for its engagement with the macabre, goth culture, death, and parody, is also infused with Latin American pop cultural imagery. The "tropical gothic", parasitic through the entirity of his practice, serves as an appropriation of im-ported Western visual cultures, blending them within a cliché-like Latin American landscape.
the gift, 2024
59.4 x 42cm
print on archival paper
Roger Muñoz Rivas (Costa Rica, 1990). Lives and works in Mexico City.
Muñoz uses grim humor as a critical tool to project and visualize narratives related to power, monstrosity, and decadence. His practice is developed mainly through a pictorial perspective that branches out to other media such as video, installation, and transvestite performance.Through these media, he stages narratives of death and cruelty, social archetypes, and mythological relationships to unveil social class tensions and power dynamics. His work intersects dark humor, goth culture, and horror subcultures, on the other hand, with orientalism and latin american pop culture. Muñoz’s work thus reflects a global-era blend of developed-country imported culture.
2011-2017: Licenciatura en Artes plásticas con énfasis en Diseño Pictórico, Universidad de Costa Rica.
2017- 2019: Programa Educativo Soma Gen 2019, Ciudad de México.
Solo exhibitions:
2021, Octubre, " Veneno para las Hadas en las fauces de un viejo maricón" Roger Muñoz & Sniffany Garnier Odio, Nixxxon , ciudad de México.
2021, Junio " El último culto de la Sirena Psíquica, Ladrón Galería, Ciudad de México.
2021, Abril- "La cocina de Sniffany", Bikini Wax Eps, Sniffany Garnier Odio, Ciudad de México.
2020, Noviembre- "Aspen", CRAC art, San José, Costa Rica.
2019, Julio- “El niño masturbador” , Noautomatico, Monterrey, México.
2019, Febrero- “Qué asco la naturaleza”. Macizo, Ciudad de México.
2017- junio, “El espacio que nunca existió”, proyecto en conjunto con Verónica Alfaro.Tanque laboratorio de ideas, Museo de Arte y diseño contemporáneo. 2016- Mayo, “Auch!!!”, Alianza Francesa, San José Costa Rica.
Group Exhibitions:
2021- junio, "Hacer algo de la nada" curada por el colectivo No Hacer nada, Museo Carrillo Gil, Ciudad de México.
2019- nov, Campamento para jóvenes naturalistas, Curaduría por Galería Rivera, Museo de la ciudad de Querétaro, México.
2019- nov, Jóvenes liberales, Subsuelo, Costa Rica
2019- mayo, “Tierra incógnita” Gen 2019, Soma, Ciudad de México.
2019- “Rev- 1”, Venti4siete Galería , San josé Costa Rica.
2017- mayo, “911/ 119”, Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, San José
Costa Rica.
2016- diciembre, “Irreductible”, C.R.A.C ART, San José, Costa Rica.
2016- Marzo, “Central Archives” Despacio, San José Costa Rica.
2015- Noviembre, 8° edición del concurso de videocreación y nuevos medios digitales “Inquieta Imagen 2015”, Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, San José, Costa Rica.
2015- Marzo, "Teramorfosis", TEOR/éTica, San José Costa Rica.
house of an old faggot, 2024
42 x 59.4cm
print on archival paper
photography by @showpickle
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