V1 Gallery is pleased to present
Perras
A solo exhibition by Cristina de Miguel
OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY APRIL 4. TIME: 16.00 - 21.00
EXHIBITION PERIOD: APRIL 5. – MAY 24. 2025.
In Cristina de Miguel’s solo exhibition Perras, she explores the chimera, a hybrid creature both human and animal, illusory and mythic. Grafting together a dog's body with a human’s creates an uncanny, surreal presence on the canvas, eliciting a visceral reaction. These hybrid figures serve as a vessel for examining queerness, autonomy, rebellion, and women’s defiance of societal expectations.
“For me, dogs symbolize instinctiveness and freedom, a raw, unrestrained power that resonates deeply, particularly in today’s political climate. A dog can be domesticated but at its core is wild. I’ve experienced the tension between the desire for freedom and the structures that constrain it. These paintings become a space for me to confront and reconcile this dissonance.”
The works in Perras are painted with a technique de Miguel calls a “soft treatment.” Painting on unprimed canvas allows the artist to use a very liquid paint that the canvas absorbs like ink, leaving behind a "stain" with almost no texture. This gives the works the immediacy of a drawing. De Miguel says: “they’re fast, uncorrectable, and spontaneous, they work almost like images being swallowed by the sea.”
A key facet of de Miguel’s work is her exploration of how bodies find freedom. She does this through distortion, alternative assemblies and actions of the body. She is particularly interested in queer bodies that exist outside the established order and are unbound by societal constraints. The characters in de Miguel’s paintings are semi-autobiographical. They are self-portraits that serve as a reflection of women’s subjectivity.
For de Miguel, painting is meant to be felt rather than merely understood on an intellectual level. Her work demonstrates technical ability and is simultaneously a total rejection of it. The works are intense, containing raw, physical gestures. They map the artist’s decisions and the euphoria of being alive.
Cristina de Miguel, born 1987, Sevilla, Spain, lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA. De Miguel holds a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, USA, 2012 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Sevilla, Spain, 2010. Recent exhibitions include: Dissolving, Almine Rech Gallery, London, UK, 2024; Cristina de Miguel & Jenny Brosinski, Almine Rech Gallery, NY, USA 2023; El Caer y el Viento, Villa Magdalena, San Sebastian, Spain, 2023; Gente Cayendo del Cielo, L21 Gallery, Mallorca, Spain, 2022; Wheels, Flying Bodies, and Other Stories, Fredericks & Freiser, New York, NY, USA, 2022; Procession Paintings, Tennis Elbow at The Journal Gallery, New York, NY, USA, 2021; and Paintings of Through and Fell, Allouche Benias Gallery, Athens, Greece, 2021.
- Text by Betsy Reid Willett