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Biography

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Mila Vázquez Otero (* 1978, Spain) studied Art History at the Universities of Santiago de Compostela and Granada, graduating with a Master's degree in 2004. She studied in Rome from 2001 to 2002 as part of the Erasmus exchange program. At the end of 2002 she moved to Berlin. From 2006 she worked for five years in the gallery of the Kunststiftung Poll in Berlin. She then designed more than a hundred short videos about art and architecture for the art television channel ikono.tv. At the end of 2016 she decided to give in to her urge for artistic development. She has lived and worked in Zurich since 2021. 

 

Vázquez Otero works in parallel on different series that reflect her interests. The series "Antitrophies" attempts to cover a controversial topic: the human relationship to the animal world and to nature in general. With unsparing depictions, she tells the dramas that many animals have to suffer: the turtle caught in a fishing net, the end of many uneaten animals in the garbage can, the she-bear with her bear cub trapped on an iceberg as a sign of ongoing climate change.

 

In the “People from Pictures” series, the artist creates three-dimensional versions of historical paintings or photographs. What particularly fascinates Vázquez Otero about this transformation is how other artists have translated the outside world into their own language. This practice allows her to engage with the diverse pictorial construction of volumes and better understand the creative processes behind each image.

 

The "Yoga" series also has an art-historical background. The half-human, half-animal figures are reminiscent of Greco-Roman mythology, adapted to the modern way of life. It is a game of possibilities and a creative exercise. An opportunity to empathize with and identify with the animal kingdom and perhaps also to reconnect with nature. It is also a chance to combine different themes.

 

The sculptures are made from papier-mâché, also known as papier-mâché. To give them stability, wire or metal rods are usually used as a base. Layers of newsprint are gradually added to give them shape. Different techniques give the surface a variety of textures, making the paper a very versatile material. Recycled paper is used almost exclusively and the sculptures are not painted. They are air-dried.

 

“I see my paper sculptures as three-dimensional drawings.” (Mila Vázquez Otero, Berlin 2017)

Exhibitions

 

media

 

- 8.1.2019:  article in Rupert Frielings blog:"Artworks from Paper: The World of Mila Vázquez Otero"

- 3.6.2018: News platform"Amal, Berlin" provides information in Persian about the Open Air Gallery

- March 2018: SAL de IBIZA reported about my "cleaning flamingo"

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