Michael Linares NOV 18 PDF

Michael Linares
Tomas Alva Edison 137, PB San Rafael, 06470 Ciudad de México, CDMX agustinaferreyra.com
Michael Linares
(Bayamón, PR, 1979)
Through a wide variety of media including installation, assemblage, sculp-

ture, video and painting, Michael Linares’ practice consistently raises the possibil-
ity of new relations between objects and signification. Mixing the foreign with the
familiar and the marvelous with the mundane, Linares disorganizes what is per-
ceived as common sense, in order to create unexpected combinations that foster
new aesthetic and intellectual understanding. Central to his practice is the explo-
ration of new connections between audience and art, in a way that asserts the
spectator’s role in the production of meaning. Rather than an aesthetic experi-
ence in and of itself, the artist sees his work as a vehicle for possible aesthetic
experiences that remain open, ever changing, and ready to be redefined. 
 
Recent exhibitions include: A Universal History of Infamy, LACMA, Los Angeles,
US (2017), How To Call The Spirits, Chapter NY, Condo NY, New York City, US
(2017), Museu do Pau, 32a Bienal de São Paulo: Incerteza Viva, São Paulo, BR
(2016); El Museo del Palo, Casa del Sargento, Beta-Local, San Juan, PR (2015);
The Way of Makapansgat, Galería Agustina Ferreyra, San Juan, PR (2015); and
An Aleatory History of the Stick, Art in General, New York, US. Curated by Kris-
ten Chappa (2015).
He is the founder of La Sonora (2010-present), a free online audiotheque, that
contains translations of texts relevant to contemporary art discourse and culture,
most of which did not previously exist in Spanish. The project aims to democra-
tize aesthetic and critical knowledge, while creating an alternative platform for
traditional reading.
Linares is also in the process of obtaining his masters degree in archaeology. He
lives and works in San Juan, PR.
Tomas Alva Edison 137, PB. Col. San Rafael. 06470. CDMX agustinaferreyra.com
Installation view
Booth presentation at Paris Internationale
(plinth)
Ignacio Manuel Altamirano # 50, Casa A. Col. San Rafael. C.P. 06740, CDMX agustinaferreyra.com
Detailed view
Booth presentation at Paris Internationale
Ignacio Manuel Altamirano # 50, Casa A. Col. San Rafael. C.P. 06740, CDMX agustinaferreyra.com
For the 2018 edition of Paris Internationale, Michael Linares (Puerto Rico, 1979) brought a
selection of material fables. These stories are short tales that work as an attempt to explain
how the natural world we know ‘became’, or how it turned into a subject with a spirit and soul.
Taking the artist’s personal and spiritual beliefs as a starting point, each tale is anchored in the
idea that absolutely everything is, or has the potential to become, a habitable space for a spirit.
Each sculpture was created out of magic, and they are the formal result of a ritual. This magic was
whispered into the objects in the form of a secret spell, right before they were declared finished
and started living.
The works; handmade, carved, embroidered, assembled, sewn, found or crafted by the artist,
have been produced using recycled and found materials around his working space, and each of
them is paired with a fable that explains its origin. They narrate the exact moment in which they
became something, or the particular situation in which they were occupied by the spirit that gave
them meaning, and made them present and real for all. They pull from personal and collective
experiences, they convey universal truths that we are lacking or have forgotten, and most
importantly, they are designed to remember things we already know.
The maracas are instruments to wake up from a deep sleep.
The Talking Stick - to take turns before we speak at an assembly, any assembly, considering the
responsibility and caution needed to express anything.
The mask is a ritual ornament that speaks of the impossibility of self love without collective love
and togetherness.
The hood is an instrument to become attuned to our senses again.
The book is an oracle (like most books are without knowing) though this one does.
The driftwood is an travel amulet, a compass.
Ignacio Manuel Altamirano 50, Casa A.,Col. San Rafael 06470 CDMX
 
Maracas
(De cuándo el pájaro no volvió a volar)
2018
Feathers, wood, acrylic
27.9 x 12.7 x 12.7 cm (11 x 5 x 5 inches)
Of when the bird never flew again
“The speckled hen was sitting in a tree devouring ants. One of the ants escaped his sight and
crawled over the Speckled hen’s body up to her ear, where she whispered a plea; if the speckled
hen forgave the ant’s life, the ant would tell the hen where the nest was. And so the ant and the
speckled hen made a deal. The speckled hen came down the tree, found the ants’ nest and ate
for three days straight, extirpating all the ants from the ground.
More than satisfied, the speckled hen decided to take a nap in order to recover from the
indigestion and fell into a deep, profound sleep, waking up two days later. She woke up
disoriented and numb, and she tried to fly immediately but she was so extremely heavy from all
the eating that she could only manage to fly up to the top of the tree, where she remained
forever, condemned to live with wings without being able to fly”.
De cuándo el pájaro no volvió a volar.

“La guinea estaba posada en un árbol devorando hormigas. Una de las hormigas escapó su vista
y trepa por su cuerpo hasta su oído y en secreto le dijo que si le perdonaba la vida le decía
dónde estaba el hormiguero. La hormiga y la guinea hicieron el trato. La guinea bajó a la tierra,
encontró el hormiguero y comió tres días sin parar cuántas hormigas veía a su paso como
extirpándolas del suelo. Ya más que satisfecha, decidió tomar una siesta para calmar la
indigestión, cayó en un sueño profundo y despertó dos días más tarde. Despertó desorientada y
entumecido e inmediatamente intentó volar pero regresar al árbol pero era tanto más su peso
entonces que no pudo volar hasta la copa y quedó condenada a vivir con alas y sin poder volar”.
Ignacio Manuel Altamirano 50, Casa A. Col. San Rafael. 06470. CDMX agustinaferreyra.com
 
Talking Stick
(De cuando la rama se convirtió en
serpiente ó de cuándo el mono
aprendió a hablar)
2018
Wood, artificial eyes, fabric
91.44 x 2.54 x 2.54 cm
(36 x 1 x 1 inches)
Of when the branch became a serpent, or how the ape learned to talk.
“One afternoon, the apes were fighting over a mango. One of the apes lost his patience before
the other and in an act of despair, grabbed a twig from the floor to hit the other ape and take the
desired fruit. The branch turned out to be a venomous snake that was camouflaged on the
ground, who without trepidation, devoured the delicious object of discord before the apes could
even blink. Terrified by the astuteness of the serpent, one of the apes opened his mouth and
emitted a sound that had never ever been produced before; it wasn't a grunt, it wasn't a growl, it
didn’t come from his gut, it came from his heart”.
De cuando la rama se convirtió en serpiente o de cuando el mono aprendió a hablar.

“Una tarde, dos monos peleaban por un mango. Uno perdió la paciencia antes que el otro y en
su desesperación agarró una rama del suelo para golpear al otro mono y así quedarse con tan
deseada fruta. La rama resultó ser una serpiente venenosa que se hallaba camuflada en el piso,
y que sin vacilar, engulló la fruta de la discordia antes de que los monos pudieran parpadear.
Atemorizado por la astucia de la serpiente, uno de los monos emitió un sonido que no se había
emitido antes, uno que no era un gruñido, ni un gemido, uno que no venía de sus vísceras, sino
del corazón”.
 
Ritual Yawning Mask

(De cuándo el hombre se tragó el universo ó
El nacimiento del bostezo)
2018
Paper clay, paper, ink, acrylic and guinea feather
25.4 x 25.4 x 15.24 cm (10 x 10 x 6 inches)
Of when a man swallowed the universe or The birth of yawn.
“A man, driven by his selfishness, opened his mouth trying to swallow the universe in one bite,
without even considering how he was just another particle within the immensity he was trying to
swallow. And just as he swallowed the universe, he swallowed himself”.
De cuándo el hombre se tragó el universo ó El nacimiento del bostezo.

Un hombre impulsado por su egoísmo, abrió la boca tratando de tragarse al mundo de un
suspiro, sin considerar que él era una partícula más dentro de la inmensidad que intentaba
tragar. Y así cómo se embuchó al universo, se tragó a sí mismo”.
 
Traveler driftwood
(De cuándo la rama náufraga encontró la orilla)
2018
Driftwood, metal, wooden handles
40.64 x 12.7 x 11.43 cm (16 x 5 x 4.5 inches)
Of when a castaway branch found the shore.
“A curious seaside mahoe gazed envious at a mangrove from the shore, because the mangrove
lived in the ocean and the mahoe didn’t. One day, the storm, who had been listening to her
pleads for a long time, uprooted the mahoe with a single blow and threw him into the salty
water. The mahoe, happy to finally be where it wanted to be, drifted and drifted away from the
shore until it ended up in the middle of the vast, open sea. The waves quickly started to rip her
apart, and the salt of the water to kill him of thirst. The mahoe drifted for days, then months,
spreading herself all over the colossal body of water until one night, one of its dying branches
found an unknown shore. On the very next day, a passerby found the branch laying down in the
sun among some rocks. The mahoe, delirious, exhausted and imminently facing her own death,
asked the man a last wish; to turn her into a suitcase and carry it with him until the end, and so
he did”.
De cuándo la rama náufraga encontró la orilla.

Una majagüilla curiosa miraba con envidia a un mangle desde la orilla porque él vivía en el mar
y ella no. Un día, la tormenta, quien ya había escuchado sus plegarias varias veces, la arrancó
de raíz de un solo soplido, tirándola al agua salada. El árbol feliz de haber llegado a dónde
tanto deseaba, se alejó de la orilla más y más hasta naufragar en la inmensidad del mar abierto.
Las olas la fueron desmembrando lentamente y la sal matándola de sed. La majagüilla flotó a la
deriva varios meses, esparcida en la vastedad del colosal cuerpo de agua. Una noche una de sus
moribundas ramas llegó a una orilla desconocida. Al día siguiente un hombre que pasaba por
ahí, encontró una de sus ramas tendida al sol entre las piedras. La rama, delirando, exhausta y
sintiendo la inminencia de su muerte, le pidió al hombre un último deseo; que la convierta en
maleta y la llevara con el hasta el final, y así fue”.
 
Ritual Sensory Deprivation Hood

(De cuándo los sentidos dejaron de
hacer sentido)
2018
Embroidered linen, shells
35.56 x 20.32 x 33.02 cm
(14 x 8 x 13 inches)
Of when senses stopped making sense.
“A man constantly stared at his own reflection on a puddle. He did it so many times that he came
to understand he was only his soul and decided to get rid of his body. Having understood that his
senses only lived in his head, he decided to cut off his head, in order to separate it from his body,
in an attempt to free himself. Once he escaped his body, he began to roam and float freely with
the intention of finding the world. He then returned to the pond and realized he couldn’t see
himself, he got close to a flower and couldn’t smell it, he tried to grab it and suck it in order to
taste its nectar, but he couldn't , as neither could he hear the buzz of the buzzer bird, or feel the
caress of the wind”.
De cuándo los sentidos dejaron de hacer sentido.

Un hombre miraba su reflejo constantemente en la superficie de un charco. Lo hizo tantas veces
que llegó a entender qué él era sólo su alma y quiso prescindir de su cuerpo. Habiendo
entendido que los sentidos vivían únicamente en la cabeza decidió cortarla para desprenderla de
su cuerpo en un intento por liberarse. Una vez escapó de su cuerpo comenzó a flotar libremente
con la intención de encontrarse al mundo. Entonces volvió a la charca pero no pudo verse, se
acercó a oler una flor y no podía olerla, intentó chuparla pata saborear su néctar y no pudo;
como tampoco pudo oír el zumbido del zumbador, ni percibir la caricia del viento”.
 
Oráculo
(De cuándo el libro aprendió a leer)
2018
Book, dried fungi
21.59 x 30.48 x 10.16 cm (8.5 x 12 x 4 inches)
Of when the book learned to read
“A book was feeling lost. It didn’t understand why he was looked at so much. Every time
somebody opened him he wanted to know about his insides, why would people look at him for
hours; what would they see; why would they lick their fingers to turn his pages; and why would
their glances change so much from page to page. One day, a little girl took him out of the shelve
and placed him on a table to read him. The girl began reading him carefully, slowly and out
loud. The book, thrilled to hear his insides for the first time, asked the girl to continue and told
her to speak up so the book could hear her better. The girl told the book she was just learning
how to read, and that she couldn’t say exactly all the words her eyes were seeing. The book
offered her a deal: he would be hers and teach her how to read if she, in exchange, read him out
loud. And that is how they ended up together, keeping each others’ company forever and how
they learned how to read themselves and each other”.
De cuándo el libro aprendió a leer.

Un libro, perdido, no entendía porque lo miraban tanto. Cada vez que lo abrían sentía más intriga
de conocer qué había en su interior, porqué la gente lo miraba con tanto detenimiento, durante
horas, porqué lamían sus dedos para pasar sus páginas y porqué sus miradas cambiaban tanto
entre pasada y pasada. Un día una niña lo sacó de su estante y lo puso sobre una mesa para
leerlo. La niña comenzó a leerlo en voz alta, torpe y lentamente. El libro entusiasmado de
escuchar su interior por primera vez, le pidió a la niña que continuara y que alzara un poco la voz
para escucharla mejor. La niña le contestó que estaba aprendiendo a leer y que no le podía decir
con exactitud todo lo que estaban viendo sus ojos. Fue así que el libro le propuso un trato: Ser
suyo y enseñarle a leer, a cambio de que ella le leyera su interior. Y así fue que ambos se
acompañaron por siempre y la niña y el libro aprendieron a leer y leerse”.
 
Ritual Necklace
2018
Caoba flower-bud, hemp thread, achiote seeds.
Variable dimensions
 
Amigo no gima. 2018

Se es o no se es. 30 min. performance
Somos o no somos. Two people, make up, two glasses, two
La ruta natural  alarm clocks, two chairs, one table
 
Amigo no gima. 
Se es o no se es.
Somos o no somos.
La ruta natural, 2018
is an action that addresses the artist’s ongoing interest in human behavior, patterns and their social
and emotional implications. In this particular work, two people face each other while mirroring the
other person’s actions, evidencing our capacity to ‘feel’ and learn by imitation. For Linares, this
ability to do so indicates not only the consciousness we have of our surroundings, the ‘other’, and
ourselves; but it’s also as a simple, raw and primitive human attempt to make sense.
 
El Agua, 2018
“sin título” Retrato Incorpóreo, 2018
Plastic bottle, bottle caps, thread,
Leather shoes, candles
plastic dice, water
Variable dimensions
Variable dimensions
 
Chelsea Culprit | Michael Linares | Ramiro Chaves

Material Art Fair, 2018
with BWSMX
Exhibition view
Frontón México, CDMX, MX
 
Pietá, 2017
Desk lamps
Variable dimensions
 
Not To Be Titled (1), 2017 Not To Be Titled (2), 2017

Baguette ends, zip tie Hohner Marine Band “D” harmonica, hand rolled
Variable dimensions cigarette butts, breath
Variable dimensions
 
Cristina Tufiño | Heather Guertin | Michael Linares | Ramiro Chaves | Zadie Xa

NADA Miami Beach, 2017
Exhibition view
Ice Palace Film Studios, Miami, US
 
In Not To Be Titled, 2016-2017, Linares continues to explore his interest in the way we
make sense. The sculptures are a series of assisted ready mades that work as rhymes; each
work is a material consonance, a formal exercise intended to produce 'new meaning' by
contrast and juxtaposition. To describe each of these works with words, would be to
abbreviate their meaning and affect, reducing them to a blurry, trivial and unimportant
experience. Instead, Linares wants these pieces to be discovered, experienced and enjoyed,
leaving the spectator with a pleasant feeling, the kind you obtain after seeing something that
nobody else witnessed, a private, subtle and intimate joke.
 
Not To Be Titled (3), 2017 Not To Be Titled (4), 2017

Peanut shells, metal wire No. 8 spaghettis, chess board
Variable dimensions Variable dimensions
 
Not To Be Titled (5), 2017

Barilla No.8 spaghetti box, No.
8 gauge iron dip stick
Variable dimensions
Not To Be Titled (6), 2017

Phone hand set, banana,
duct tape
Variable dimensions
 
A Universal History of Infamy, 2017

Installation view
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, US
 
A stick is not exactly a branch fallen from a tree. To become a stick, it needs to be picked up
and utilized; it needs the imprint of the agency of the person who wants to use it.1 The intention
carved on the stick gives it the ability to transform energy; a universal, immeasurable energy set in
motion for many ends. Therefore, a stick is a tool, a material extension of human will. The nature of
a stick -which is also present in language when it is called "a stick" - is linked to its functionality,
practical, recreational, or symbolic. This means the stick is part of the social sphere, along with its
occasional or exceptional usages, as well as the communication related to these. This book, also
imprinted in a social reality, gives another turns of the screw to the stick's existence. It indexes the
stick and mobilizes it in the context of art.
A stick could be more or less modified in order to perform work -- from the simple semantic
modification that changes it from branch to stick, to advanced grades of physical and magical
intervention that could enhance it with special functions and powers. However, Michael D. Linares’s
archetypical stick is, conceptually, a manuport (an unmodified found object which has been selected
and moved from its original context by human agency), beyond the fact that its nature is exactly that
of a stick. Namely, Linares's stick is the gestural stick set in motion to produce art, torture, pleasure,
etc., despite the level of physical human modification. His interest is located in the instinctive, first
intention that drives a person to grab a stick, universalizing it.
Here, we come across two elements that relate dialectically. On one hand, we have the finds
of an archeological research that studies the stick as a tool that responds to many kinds of stimuli --
from the gestural and instinctive, to its most elaborate and derivative usages. On the other hand, we
have a collection of still and moving images. These images have an agency of their own, with even
another layer of intention: that of the artist who is able to recognize them, organize them, and link
them together as a work of art.
This is not a historicist sequence of the evolution of the stick as tool, neither it suggests forms
of cultural differentiation derived from it. Peculiarly, these images question and suspend the actual
concept of evolution, as the collection takes a form that is also suspended and is not easily
verbalized. The challenge to any possible interpretative hierarchy leads to a certain unprogressive
notion of time. Evolution is also involution; progress is also barbarity.
1. “Agency is attributable to those persons (and things …) who/which are seen as initiating casual sequences of a
particular type, that is, events caused by acts of mind or will or intention, rather than the mere concatenation of
physycal events” (Alfred Gell, Art and Agency. An Anthropological Theory, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, p.
16.)
 
However, the image of the stick, or the images of the sticks, are not the actual stick or sticks
as objects; they are, in fact, constructions, “complex assemblages of virtual, material, and symbolic
elements."2 The collection constructs a setting to make the images appear, adding information to
these multiple yet limited images --making it possible to categorize them as "a stick". Spyros
Papapetros, quoting Aby Warburg, states: “…it is ultimately the image that absorbs, inflects, or
nullifies all previous agencies and mediates our communication with both subjects and objects."3
Even if Linares's work can be called archeological in terms of the agency of the stick, the images
work to "absorb" this agency, particularly the agency of the stick over the human body, and that of
the human body over the stick.
The images acquire the right to exist on their own; they are not representations of the stick,
they do not describe the stick, and yet they work in favor of the stick, because they have been
summoned to do so. In the words of W.J.T. Mitchell, “pictures want equal rights with language, not
to be turned into language."
2. W.J.T. Mitchell, What Do Pictures Want? The Lives and Loves of Images, Chicago and London: The University of
Chicago Press, 2004, p. xiii.
3. Spyros Papapetros, On the Animation of the Inorganic: Art Architecture and the Extension of Life, Chicago y
Londres: University of Chicago Press, 2012, p. 24.
 
Incerteza Viva, 2017

32 Bienal do Sau Paulo
Installation view
Parque do Ibirapuera, Sao Paulo, BR
 
Museo del Palo, 2015

Installation view
Casa del Sargento (Beta-Local), San Juan, PR
 
An Aleatory History of the Stick, 2014

HD Video. Color. Sound
RT | 53:25 min.
Ed. 5 + 2 A.P.
Please click here for excerpt
 
As early as the Pliocene epoch, the stick as a specific, three-dimensional form has played a
vital role in the technological, social, political, aesthetic, and religious development of humanity and
some animal species. The chimpanzee’s that poke at the termites, the facial ornamentation of the
Yanomami people, the Shulgi of Ur’s weaponry— as well as the toothpick, knitting needle, and
vaulting-pole—all represent a minute slice of the myriad transfigurations that this form has
undergone throughout history. For Linares, the stick serves as concrete evidence of the neurological
evolution of some animals and indicates their ability to create metaphor. It is an ancient example of
the moment when an object, such as a branch or bone, ceases to be what it inherently is and
becomes an instrument with transformed meaning and purpose. As such, Linares considers the stick
to be an archetype of a “thing;” a vessel devoid of connotation that anticipates signification through
utility. 
Treating the stick as a readymade, Linares divests it of any original use value or context,
presenting the form as dependent on conceptual shifts with radically altered implications and
functionality. An Aleatory History of The Stick is the formal outcome of Linares’ investigation into
the history and quotidian uses of stick-like objects— defined as long, rigid shapes, the length of
which are dependent on function and proportion in relation to the body. As a simple machine, a stick
can transform energy, increasing tangible force as with a baseball bat, or symbolic power as with the
baton, wand, or scepter. His study emulates the exploratory and archaeological method of
prospection— involving image, text, video and data gathering—with the aim to generate an
audiovisual archive that represents a collective knowledge base. In this project, Linares exploits the
gaps that exist in science and history as opportunities to create speculative associations and
narrative. Comprised of YouTube clips edited into a layered, moving-image collage, this video
installation of the same title is part of a larger body of works in progress, including a book and a
museum dedicated to the object, set to open in San Juan, Puerto Rico on late September, 2015.
 
Unidentified Oracle, The Answer is The Answer, 2017

Yellow daisies, guinea chicken feathers, dried pumpkin, unfinished straw hat, stone, and glass
Variable dimensions
 
Michael Linares’s piece Unidentified Oracle is a source of answers; an artifact that

contains a series of powerful elements, including enemy repelling amulets, and a five
thousand year old prehistoric thunderstone found by the artist on a recent archaeological
excavation. The oracle helps the spectator find the answers to whichever question they might
have at any given moment. In order to activate it, ones needs to believe first, then think about
the question and wait for the answer that will, eventually, come to you. As an object of art,
the piece works as evidence of the human attempt to materialize the intangible, through the
manipulation and modification of the auratic qualities of matter. The specificity of the
elements that constitute the oracle, reveals a material eloquence that’s impossible to convey
through words and can only be understood through the symbolic.
 
How To Call The Spirits

Condo New York 2017
Exhibition view
Chapter NY, New York, US
 
Future Exhibition, 2017

Installation view
Galería Agustina Ferreyra, San Juan, PR
 
Pájaro, 2017
River stone, Guinea chicken feathers, pine wood pedestal
54 x 6 1/2 x 15 inches (137.16 x 16.51 x 38.1 cm)
 
Clítoris, 2017
River stone, palm tree pod, Ni ifé, 2017
coconut palm wood pedestal River stone, acrylic, mango tree wood pedestal
40 x 7 x 20 inches (101.6 x 17.78 x 50.8 cm) 29 x 8 x 14 inches (73.66 x 20.32 x 35.56 cm)
 
They climb through an aerial root hidden in the

undergrowth.
There are rocks of all shapes.
They walk all the river imagining their destination.
The blow changes the order of things, but they will all
remain there, in other places, but there.
When they’re thirsty, clouds drink from the river.
Not all the rocks are swallowed.
With patience one gets to the road.

One rests in the shade of the mango tree, the other one
next to the coconut palm.
There are many reasons. At times the effort is banal, at

others an act of atonement.
The plan changes and the question arises, while
working on what is going to take place.
The invariable transforms.
Sacrifice will be worth it.
– Pablo Guardiola
 
Cabeza, 2017
River stone, corn, pine tree wood pedestal
13 x 7 x 15 inches (33.02 x 17.78 x 38.1 cm)
 
Ouroboros, 2017
Aerial root & acrylic paint
Variable dimensions
 
Future Exhibition, 2017

Installation view
 
"Subtítulo": Un destello del inicio, 2016

Native white oak & stone axe
aprox. 12 x 114 x 14 inches (30.48 x 289.56 x 35.56 cm)
 
The Resemblance Is All In The Eye of The Beholder, 2016

Exhibition view
 
“[…]The mimetic faculty as well as the perception of similarities are intertwined and
develop complex though processes. Two of the latter are synthesized in "Subtitle": A Glance
of the Beginning (2016) by Michael D. Linares: the interpretation of thunderstones (ceraunia)
as objects produced by meteorological phenomena endowed with magical powers and that of
the man-carved stones which, until the 18th century were not recognized as such in the West.
The axe and the magical object appear here indistinct, materializing a sort of hermeneutical
problem in which the manufactured object comes back, through language, and the knowledge
it lends itself to, to its purely geological state. In the different interpretative processes to
which they were subjected, these stones ended up acquiring various abilities associated to
their agency. They are efficacious at various levels.”
-Catalina Lozano
excerpt, Curator’s Text, The Resemblance Is All In The Eye Of The Beholder
 
The Way of Makapansgat, 2015

Exhibition view
 
During the Cold War in the 1970’s, the United States’s security agencies concluded that
their Soviet enemies were investing large quantities of money conducting extensive research
and obtaining successful results in the field of psychotronics, or the study of the
parapsychological, with military purposes. In an attempt to keep up with the Russians, the
CIA decided to initiate a program known as “Stargate” with the idea of using extrasensory
perception as an espionage strategy, developing what is now known as Remote Viewing, a
practice consisting of ‘seeing impressions’ about an unseen or distant target using
extrasensory perception. In remote viewing, the clairvoyant communicates telepathically with
its target and graphically deconstructs a message through a doodle. In order to decipher and
code these doodles, the CIA established a series of basic ideograms, that frequently came up
in the interpretation of their subjects, producing a universal code made of six basic symbols
that represent the most basic characters in remote viewing. These are: Human, Water,
Structure, Energy, Flatland and Mountain. 
Ideograms, 2015 is a series of paintings based on these symbols that represent the
idealist human effort of creating common sense, not only with the intention of understanding
its own mind, but with the need to communicate a consensus, while evidencing the power of
the symbolic in the construction of what we understand and accept as history.
 
Humano | Llanura, 2015

Acrylic on canvas covered plywood
Humano: 50 x 46 inches (127 x 116.84 cm)
Llanura: 67 x 9 1/2 inches (170.18 x 24.13 cm)
 
Estructura | Agua, 2015

Acrylic on canvas covered plywood
Estructura: 46 1/2 x 56 1/4 inches (118.11 x 142.87 cm)
Agua: 66 1/2 x 13 inches (168.91 x 33.02 cm)
 
Makanpansgat’s Way, 2015

HD Animation. Color. Sound
RT | 7:00 mins
Ed. 5 + 2 A.P.
Please click here for excerpt
The Makapansgat Pebble, also known as the ‘pebble of many faces’ is an
anthropomorphic stone, the size of a baseball, found in 1925 in the Valley of
Makapansgat, located in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The aforementioned
pebble (ca. 3,000,000 BP) is the first of what scientists have defined as a Manuport.
Technically, a Manuport is a natural object with no alteration whatsoever, that has
been removed from its original context by human agency. Using animation, Linares
uses the circumstances of the Makapansgat finding to tell the story of another
phenomenon, one that is considered by the artist to be the reason and origin, of
everything that means anything for our species.
Michael Linares
(b.1979) Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Lives and works in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Education
2014 - …
MA, Archaeology Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y El Caribe, San Juan, PR
2010-2011
Independent Studies, Beta-Local, San Juan, PR
1999-2005
BFA, Painting and Sculpture Escuela de Artes Plásticas de San Juan, PR
Selected Solo Person Exhibitions
2018
Michael Linares, Paris Internationale, Paris, FR (with Galería Agustina Ferreyra) (forthcoming)
2017
Future Exhibition, Galería Agustina Ferreyra, San Juan, PR
2015
Museo del Palo (Museum of the Stick), Casa del Sargento, Beta-Local. San Juan, PR.
www.museodelpalo.com
The Way of Makapansgat, Galería Agustina Ferreyra, San Juan, PR
A Aleatory History of the Stick, Art in General, NY. Curated by Kristen Chappa.
2014
Outside In/ Out. Solo Project. MACO Art Fair. curated by Juan Gaitán, México City, Méx. (with
Ltd Los Angeles)
2013
Was it a Rat I Saw?, Ltd Los Angeles. Los Angeles, CA.
2012
Así las cosas (This being So), Mural Commission. Bass Museum of Art, Miami.
2011
Michael Linares, Chemi’s Room, San Juan, PR
2010
Useless, curated by Pablo Leon de la Barra, PINTA Art Fair London U.K.
Oasis Inclusive Structure at ARCO Solo Projects 2010, curated by Juan de Nieves , Madrid, Spain
2009
Found & Lost, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR
2007
Eight, ocho, bizcocho, cake, Galería Comercial, San Juan, PR
Lawrimore Loves Painting, Lawrimore Projects, Seattle, WA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2018
Paul Heyer, Michael Smith & Michael Linares, Condo CDMX, Galería Agustina Ferreyra, Mexico
City, MX (with Chapter NY and Dan Gunn)
Chelsea Culprit | Ramiro Chaves | Michael Linares, Material Art Fair, Mexico City, MX (with
Galería Agustina Ferreyra and BWSMX)
2017
Ramiro Chaves | Heather Guertin | Michael Linares | Cristina Tufiño | Zadie Xa, NADA Miami
Beach, Miami, US (with Galería Agustina Ferreyra)
A Universal History of Infamy. Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Pacific Standard
Time LA/LA. US
How To Call The Spirits, Condo NY, Chapter, New York City, US (with Galería Agustina
Ferreyra)
Identify your limitations, acknowledge the periphery, VITRINE. Basel, CH
2016
Incerteza Viva. 32nd Bienal de São Paulo. Curated by Jochen Volz, Gabi Ngcobo, Júlia Rebouças,
Lars Bang Larsen, & Sofía Olascoaga.
The Resemblance Is All In The Eye of The Beholder, Galería Agustina Ferreyra, San Juan, PR
Heather Guertin & Michael Linares, Liste, Basel, with Galería Agustina Ferreyra
Rican/Struction, in Collaboration with Abraham Cruzvillegas. Galería Agustina Ferreyra, San
Juan,
PR.
2015
NADA Miami Beach 2015, with Galería Agustina Ferreyra, Miami, FL
2013
Group Show, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, Curated by Abdiel Segarra
2012
Gala, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, P.R.
La Sonora, Trienal Poligráfica de Puerto Rico, San Juan P.R.
The Way In, curated by Io Carrion, Popular Center Building, San Juan P.R.
Post-Panamax, Diablo Rosso, Panamá City, Panamá
Exhibition, De la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space, Miami, FL
2011
Painting Expanded, curated by Marysol Nieves, Espacio 1414, San Juan, P.R.
PARAÍSO, ltd los angeles, Los Angeles, CA
San Gerónimo 31, San Gerónimo 31, Colonia Centro, Mexico D.F.
Exhibición Re- Inauguración, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce P.R.
2010
Exhibition, De la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space, Miami, FL
7x7, Galería S. XXI, Bogotá, Colombia
Michael D. Linares, Galería Altamira, Asturias, Spain
Mobile Spaces, Univesity of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
Ultrapuñeta, Proyectos Ultravioleta, Guatemala
2009
Geografía Humana, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR
2008
En sus marcas... , Curated by Rebeca Noriega, Instituto de Cultura de Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR
Walter Otero Gallery, Circa Art Fair, San Juan, PR
2007
Galería Comercial, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, FL
BioKunst, Antwerp, Belgium
COMERCIAL, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY
Crimes of Omission, ICA, University of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
Galería Comercial, ArtLA, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Public Sculpture Art Project (with Galería Comercial), Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, FL
Lisa Kirks Greatest Hits, The Wayward Cannon, London, U.K.
Galería Comercial, MACO, Mexico DF, Mexico.
The Galleries Show (with Galería Comercial), Extra City, Antwerp, Belgium
The S-Files II, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR
The Lovers, CANADA Gallery, New York, NY
The Peace Tower, participation as part on Mark di Suvero & Rikrit Tiravanija’s project, Biennial,
Whitney Museum, New York, NY
2005
Ninjas killed my family, need money for Kung-Fu lessons, Galería Comercial, San Juan, PR
(Galería Comercial), NADA, Miami, FL
The S-Files, Museo del Barrio, New York, NY
Tropical Table Party, curated by María Inés Rodríguez, Centro d’ Art Santa Mónica, Barcelona, SP
2004
Galería Comercial, Stray Show, Chicago, IL
Group Show, Galería Sin Título, San Juan, PR
Javier Cambre, José Campeche, Michael Linares & Francisco Torres, Galería Comercial, San
Juan, PR
Bibliography
2016
Molly Taylor, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Elephant Magazine
Michelle Fiedler, Kadiview: Michael Linares, Kadist Art Foundation
2015
Michael Anthony Farley, NADA Highlights, Part 1, Art F City, 2015.
Mariela Fullana Acosta, Museo del Palo: Mirada a un objeto simple, El Nuevo Día, 2015.
2014
Pablo León de la Barra, Dispatch: Puerto Rico, Guggenheim blog, blogs.guggenheim.org 2014.
2013
Art Cities of The Future (San Juan), Edited by Pablo León de la Barra, Phaidon Press. 2013.
2011
Ursula Dávila, "Puerto Rico Art Scene: Not Only Reggeaton Gets Your Heartbeat
Racing!,www.fluentcollab.org
Sharon Mizota, "Art Review: Paraíso at Ltd Los Angeles", Los Angeles Times, 2011
2010
Adriana Herrera Téllez, "Panorama of Emerging Latin American Art", Arte al Día, 2010.
Luis Feas Costillas, “Apuntes de Un ARCO Polémico”, La Voz de Asturias, 2010.
Marion Maneker, “Free Beer at ARCO”, Art Market Monitor, 2010.
“Michael D. Linares: Oasis”, Vernissage TV, 2010.
Paloma Torres Pérez Soler, “Arco 2010”, ABC, Madrid, Spain, 2010.
2009
Suzie Walshe, “Visual Mind Games”, New York Arts Magazine, New York, NY, 2009.
Marisol Nieves, “Michael Linares, Found & Lost”, Arte al Día, Arte al Día Internacional, 2009.
Lauren Cornell, Masimiliano Gioni, Laura Hoptman, “Younger than Jesus: Artist Directory”,
Phaidon & The New Museum, New York, NY, 2009.
2007
Manuel Álvarez Lezama, “Installations move front and center in local museums”, The San Juan
Star, September 2, 2007.
R.C. Baker, “Michael D. Linares”, The Village Voice, New York, July 17, 2007.
Holland Cotter, "Art in Review: Comercial" The New York Times, July 6, 2007.
"The L Picks" The L Magazine, July 11-17, 2007.
Walter Robinson, “Weekend Update”, Artnet, July 9, 2007.
Manuel Álvarez Lezama, “Michael Linares: Representante de una nueva generación de artistas
puertorriqueños”, Art Premium, Vol. 4, num. 19, 2007.
Manuel Álvarez Lezama, “Linares exhibit full of interesting surprises, as usual”, The San Juan
Star, March 26, 2007.

Michael Linares NOV 18 PDF

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Michael Linares

Through a wide variety of media including installation, assemblage, sculp-

The maracas are instruments to wake up from a deep sleep.

The hood is an instrument to become attuned to our senses again.

The driftwood is an travel amulet, a compass.

De cuándo el pájaro no volvió a volar.

De cuando la rama se convirtió en serpiente o de cuando el mono aprendió a hablar.

Ritual Yawning Mask

De cuándo el hombre se tragó el universo ó El nacimiento del bostezo.

De cuándo la rama náufraga encontró la orilla.

Ritual Sensory Deprivation Hood

De cuándo los sentidos dejaron de hacer sentido.

De cuándo el libro aprendió a leer.

Amigo no gima. 2018

Chelsea Culprit | Michael Linares | Ramiro Chaves

Not To Be Titled (1), 2017 Not To Be Titled (2), 2017

Cristina Tufiño | Heather Guertin | Michael Linares | Ramiro Chaves | Zadie Xa

Not To Be Titled (3), 2017 Not To Be Titled (4), 2017

Not To Be Titled (5), 2017

Not To Be Titled (6), 2017

A Universal History of Infamy, 2017

Incerteza Viva, 2017

Museo del Palo, 2015

An Aleatory History of the Stick, 2014

Please click here for excerpt

Unidentified Oracle, The Answer is The Answer, 2017

Michael Linares’s piece Unidentified Oracle is a source of answers; an artifact that

How To Call The Spirits

Future Exhibition, 2017

They climb through an aerial root hidden in the

Not all the rocks are swallowed.

With patience one gets to the road.

There are many reasons. At times the effort is banal, at

Sacrifice will be worth it.

Future Exhibition, 2017

"Subtítulo": Un destello del inicio, 2016

The Resemblance Is All In The Eye of The Beholder, 2016

The Way of Makapansgat, 2015

Humano | Llanura, 2015

Estructura | Agua, 2015

Makanpansgat’s Way, 2015

Please click here for excerpt

Selected Solo Person Exhibitions

Selected Group Exhibitions

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