Maíra Senise

Trastienda Machete presents the exhibition Pies y Manos by Maíra Senise.

Sprinkled throughout this realm, Maíra Senise’s works act as portals into a universe which opens up to us via totems – the moon, hearts within hearts, stars, spirals, a fruit, a shoe, the rose – offering oblique views into a world that we might step into – a mirror next to a mirror.

These totems construct a home that we are learning to yearn for. Memories, motifs and fragments are found objects, re-convened into new lifeworlds by the artist. They recycle time - a chronomap of impressionistic childhoods, play, and affection.

Maíra’s works anoint the body, a set table, the home, and our material consciousness via jewelry, trivets, incense sculptures, candle motives that touch upon flesh, the warmth of a dish, the scent of perfumed smoke, the glow of candlelight. This choreography of objects shifts between the edges of her painted surfaces, entangling the pictorial with the material, imbuing the abstract with use. Don’t just look – touch. Don't just touch – wear, burn, alter.

Pies y Manos expands the repertoire of the inclusive generic, inviting us to participate in an adjacent universe made accessible by Maíra’s careful crafting of clues. In doing so, her work questions the makings of this world – who gets to participate in it, who are its authors, and what constitutes that which is worth nurturing.

— Xiaoxi Chen