Sin título (Untitled)

In 1990, Pepe Espaliú learned that he was HIV-positive. From then on, his life became inseparable from his artistic practice, which revolved around subjectivity as its central theme, developing a discourse linking the social and political with the physical. In the series Diez últimos dibujos, conceived on the threshold of his death and with full awareness of the fragility of the body, Espaliú experiments directly on paper with operations that evoke real or implied surgical acts upon the skin, such as tears, stitches, nails and burns, thereby transforming the paper into a sick body. In these drawings, the body is exposed as a territory of suffering and resistance. The recurring motif of crutches becomes a metaphor for illness, like an unbearable weight, but also a supporting structure. Serving as both a guide and means of support, the crutch stands as a symbol of insufficiency and dependence, but also as a tool for moving forward, sustaining and creating.

Raúl Martínez Arranz