Michael Linares

Through a wide variety of media including installation, assemblage, sculpture, video and painting, Michael Linares’ practice consistently raises the possibility of new relationships between objects and signification. Living and working in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Linares mixes the foreign with the familiar and the marvelous with the mundane, disorganizing what is perceived as common sense to create unexpected combinations that foster new aesthetic and intellectual understanding. Central to his practice is the exploration of new connections between audience and art to assert the spectator’s role in the production of meaning. Linares sees his work as a vehicle for possible aesthetic experiences that remain open, ever-changing, and ready to be redefined.

His work has shown internationally, and recent exhibitions include Museu do Pau, 32nd Bienal de São Paolo, Brazil; El Museo del Palo, Casa del Sargento, Beta-Local, San Juan (2015); and An Aleatory History of the Stick, Art in General, New York (2015). Linares is also the founder of La Sonora, a free online resource that contains translations of texts relevant to contemporary art discourse and culture, most of which did not previously exist in Spanish. The project aims to democratize aesthetic and critical knowledge, while creating an alternative platform for traditional reading.