Claudia Julián

This month, Arte Expuesto presents Claudia Julián's work: ¿A qué vamos al circo? on panoramic screens in different locations throughout the city.

Through a visual satire inspired by the aesthetics of classical painting and the imaginary of the circus, this series explores and questions some attitudes and behaviors of the society of San Pedro, a community to which I belong and with which I am deeply linked. Although inspired by my immediate context, the work reflects universal attitudes that are replicated in other societies with similar socio-cultural characteristics.

Each artwork becomes a personal reflection on aspects that I consider relevant to observe, analyze and sometimes rethink in our society. The questions that underlie this series are: Are our actions truly our own or are they conditioned by the influence of collectivity and tradition? Do we act from our own individuality or are we driven by the need to maintain the status quo? Are we prisoners of our fears?

To create this visual critique, I draw on iconic images from the golden age of the circus, using their atmosphere and symbolism to represent and satirize these issues. As in the circus described by Ramón Gómez de la Serna as a “world unto itself, a living being with rules and a lifestyle of its own,” San Pedro, becomes here a stage where the absurd and the sublime coexist, and where the actors are all of us.

This series invites us to look beyond the spectacle and to delve deeper into what defines, controls and shapes our actions within this shared universe, to question the threads that pull our individual and collective decisions and behaviors.

— Claudia Julián