Jaime Muñoz
1 collaboration
Jaime Muñoz deftly reveals the “myth of modernity.” His multimedia paintings are digitally designed, then constructed by hand on bespoke wood panels using paper, glitter, texture paste and acrylic paint. The compositions mix decorative motifs with grid-like structures which represent mathematics and construction — informed by time spent working as a manual labourer. This time made the artist particularly aware of class and racial inequality – seeing a predominantly immigrant workforce deeply undervalued and underpaid. Compelled to understand the histories that led to this point, Muñoz studied the development of American capitalism, which came to be the main subject of his practice. Existence (2019), for example, includes machinery from the 19th century Industrial Revolution as a symbol for the ways in which low paid workers have, throughout history, been treated as machines. While predominantly a painter, Muñoz also works across drawing, ceramics and film. His works fuse ancient and contemporary references – from Spanish Catholic iconography which subverts its colonialist legacies to Toyota car logos which symbolise working class immigrant culture in America.
