Ad Minoliti & Catalina Schliebener Muñoz

Barro NY is pleased to present Manifesto of Immature Abstraction an exhibition featuring the works of Ad Minoliti and Catalina Schliebener Muñoz curated by Nicolás Cuello and Syd Krochmalny. This show explores queer approaches to abstraction through the use of colors and shapes that articulate non-binary narratives which counter the coloniality of gender, sexuality, age, and interspecies life.

The gallery space transforms into an abstract dialogue between queer representations of the animal that reinvent their forms by dismantling colonial imaginaries of the childish, immature, and naive. This deconstruction and critique allows the artists to challenge traditional narratives that intervene in the subjectivation of children, disorganizing and transcending through fantasy.

Ad Minoliti's vibrant abstract compositions radiate a spectrum of hues, using geometric shapes to implicitly suggest faces and animal figures. These works invite viewers into a speculative universe where childhood becomes the tool from which to experience critical perspectives on artistic movements.

Meanwhile, Catalina Schliebener Muñoz presents works made with vinyl cutouts, colored pencils, and embroidery on mat boards and walls. Oscillating between modes of sophistication and craft, the artist uses pastels and the texture of embroidery to invite deep reflection on social and behavioral norms as well as definitions of bodily normality imposed on children.

Across their respective styles, both artists use abstraction to disorient childhood’s symbolic straightness, the imperative of extroversion, and the adult-centric demand for seriousness and coherence of identity. Ad Minoliti employs geometry and Catalina Schliebener Muñoz uses fragmentation to reinterpret the role of the visual in the social construction of normality. These abstract deconstructions question the stereotypes of mass media, the historical canon of modern art, and contemporary geopolitical narratives, thereby contributing to the decolonization of the modernist social imaginary.

The exhibition, in this sense, brings together a series of works that deploy immaturity as a methodology, revealing the complexity and fluidity intrinsic to the human experience, beyond heteronormative, cissexist, and adult-centric restrictions. This use of queer critical potency emphasizes the constant challenge and reinvention of queer identities and experiences, offering a profound critique of the natural, the animal, and the childish within the sociopolitical spectrum.

Manifesto of Immature Abstraction is more than an exhibition; it is a strategic disturbance, a queer dismantling of norms, and a celebration of diversity. It invites the public to interact with art that redefines the animal and the childish, not only as a critique of anthropocentric perspectives, but also to advocate for their recognition in a broader ecological and moral context.