Omar Árcega

b. Puebla, México, 1981. 

Collage is a tool for Omar to transform the discourse behind his work to make sense of his own vision of the world. An image can be revealing for itself, however to Omar the moment of intervening changes its significant and signifier, hence the relevance of the experimenting and creative process behind his collages.

Through his collages, Arcega reveals how can any person be coaxed by power and depicts it as a chaos. Iconic characters –appealing to the spectator's personal imagery– are transformed by overwhelming power to diverse layers and structures of absurdness. Every image of this series is a statement of how the seek and the exercise of power leads to madness and paranoia. 'Chaos, madness and power are answers to my surroundings, it is what everyone devours every day, it changes us, it concerns us and it shapes my personality'.

In this series, Power, Omar uses collage to explore different power archetypes – the state, the military and the clergy – with a particular focus on his views of power in Mexican history during 'La Reforma'. In this time Mexico went through radical upheaval and civil war. Arcega creates a body of work where one can identify graphic motives from this historical moment; but could also be related to any other turning point of political, economic and religious tension anywhere in the world. Each archetype of power is a statement to explore and expose the sinister and monstrous abuse of power.

This visual rhetoric has transformed the artist into an 'image hunter' that with large amount of meticulous research and analysis has studied books, encyclopaedias, newspapers, magazines and photography archives to find images able to communicate his stance. 'The feeling of tearing apart a book and referring to chaos and destruction is something that became essential for my creative and research process'.

Omar studied a BA in Plastic Arts and has a number of solo exhibits under his belts. One of his most recent being an “invasion” of the famous Pujol restaurant in Mexico City –considered one of the 50 best restaurants in the world–: floors, ceilings, kitchen, air ducts, everything was covered in the artist ́s creations. 

 
 

 

Omar  Árcega. Sin Título (Untitled), 2016. Collage technique with pins, mixed media on paper. 29.5 x 23.5 x 5 cm (Framed). 

*Works sold separately or in groups

 
 

Omar Arcega. Espectro Visible (Visible Spectrum), 2016. Collage & mixed on paper. 44.5 x 27 x 15 cm. (Framed)

*Works sold separately or in groups

 
 

 

Omar Arcega, Arquetipos de Poder,  (Archetypes of Power), 2014. Collage, mixed on paper. 27 x 24 cm (each). (Framed)

*Works sold separately or in groups