Arachnophobia. Carlos Amorales creeps out the Cornerhouse.

Mexican multimedia artist Carlos Amorales takes over Gallery One at Cornerhouse with two haunting and complex video-based works

Carlos Amorales is no stranger to big gallery shows: his work has been exhibited at Tate Modern and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, while his solo exhibitions include one at the sprawling Philadelphia Museum of Art. Yet his striking and very personal style sometimes deserves a more intimate setting, and so it’s fitting that his latest solo show features just two works in one of Cornerhouse’s upstairs galleries.

Many of the details of Amorales’ work are drawn from his “Liquid Archive” – a digital database that contains scores of drawings that the artist uses over and over again. Wolves, birds, spiders and monsters are recurring characters in a style that appears to be heavily influenced by notions of the gothic, with creepy and deliberately unsettling scenes played out upon dystopian, post-industrial landscapes.

The two works at Cornerhouse are strong examples of Amorales’ video work. The artist created Psicofonias, 2008, a two-screen video installation in collaboration with musician Julián Lede and digital programmer André Pahl. It’s a realtime animation in which drawings morph into musical notes, which are played on two synthesizers.

The other video installation, Discarded Spider, 2008, is an uncomfortable depiction of entrapment – we see the artist in silhouette grappling with gigantic spider webs, which create strangely beautiful designs on the screen.

Carlos Amorales’ work is on display at Cornerhouse from 6-27 March. Free entry. The exhibition coincides with the 16th annual ¡Viva! Spanish and Latin American Film Festival.

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