“It is special to be a part of this constellation”

Self-awareness may not be tethered to celestial understanding, but it is implicitly tied to La casa artist Isa Carrillo’s work. A reader of palms, converser with the stars and artist for the people, Carrillo’s practice starts with the individual and ends with an artwork, the last step in her process on view in galleries internationally, including our Main Gallery. We chatted with the Guadalajara artist about her passion, process and point of view through her artistic practice.

Three people stand talking. Two have long dark ahir and are dressed in black. The person in the middle has pink hair and is wearing a short-sleeve long bright orange-red dress

Artists Florencia Guillén and Isa Carrillo

“Since I was a kid I was very interested in this invisible energy we can feel around,” Carrillo says. “I was very keen to discover behind the person. I normally think there is no difference between my studies and practice ... these things that I do and my art. I think the art is the last part in the matter — it’s just a touch of these other things that are important to me that have to do with people and everything connected in a web.”

The artist’s work on view in La casa que nos inventamos: Contemporary Art From Guadalajara y follows the story of a famous Guadalajara architect who lost his left hand in an explosion and turned to art as a consequence of the accident. Utilizing an online software, Carrillo re-created the starry night sky of the accident, crafting her own constellation with the former architect’s lost left hand, a connection to intuition and artistic creativity, a portrait in its own way.

A triptych of black canvases with stars. The first has a constellation of a hand and the hand fades out of the following canvases.

Isa Carrillo's Constelacion Naciente (2015)

“What I do most in my work is portraits, but the portraits have to do with the mirror of the other,” Carrillo says. “It has to do with what is there that is aligned or not. I don’t like to have discussions about political or social things, because I always think there are 359 other points of view, and I am not prepared for that. I prefer to be honest from one point.”

Catch the full interview with the Guadalajara-based artist below. As the exhibition enters its final days, we’ll unveil a few more conversations about La casa, Guadalajara and cultivating creative communities. See an interview with Eduardo Sarabia here, Cynthia Gutiérrez here, Claudia Cisneros here, curator Viviana Kuri here and artist talks held opening weekend here. Or visit our entire La casa que nos inventamos playlist on YouTube.