The Splinter in the Eye (2024)
In this installation Carlos Castro Arias, has crafted an immersive environment featuring paintings, found objects, water features, and sound. As the viewer navigates the installation they are confronted with uncanny moments and oblique references which touch on questions of human perception and unexplored or uncomfortable histories. In one corner, the disembodied head of Junipero Serra, the first Franciscan priest to establish missions throughout California, sits in a birdbath.
Paintings featuring layered imagery, from ancient sculpture to contemporary consumer products, populate the wooden scaffolding that appears to extend from the space of the gallery into the painted realm. Taxidermied animals, perch within the structure while sonic elements tied to each painting subtly shape the space. The dizzying array of objects, sounds, and images in this installation points to shared history and trauma yet situates the viewer in the present lived moment, emphasizing our place in a historical narrative that unfolds in real time.
Christie Mitchell