Carlos Aires Biography

Carlos Aires (b. 1974, Ronda, Málaga) is a multidisciplinary artist internationally recognised for his critical vision of today's society and for his research into the representations of power. Approaching his work means opening ourselves to the possibility of a language where antagonistic elements coexist; perversion, passion, catastrophe, party, violence, desire, suffering, and death; a playful and tragic space where there is a notorious and unexpected equivalence between pain and pleasure.

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Although inspired by personal experiences and obsessions, he pays special attention to the shock effect produced by contradictory and/or absurd truths that make up the conceptual fabric of our everyday fictions. He gives a semantic twist to the icons and values established by society; he re-contextualises objects, raw materials and traditions that he extracts from the great detritus of contemporary culture (vinyl records, banknotes, crockery, knives, sculptures, archive photographs, etc.); he uses the trompe l'oeil technique as a strategy to dazzle the viewer and play with his or her imaginary. His deeply conceptual work can be understood as a detailed reflection on the emerging dynamics of contemporary global culture.

After graduating in Fine Arts from the University of Granada, he furthered his training abroad, mainly in Holland, Belgium and New York, where he was quickly recognised as one of the contemporary artists with the greatest international projection. After fourteen years he returned to Spain in 2009 and set up his studio in Madrid, where he has recently promoted the Mala Fama project. He has received important awards such as Generation 2008 from Caja Madrid, and the Pont Museum Prize in Holland. He is also the first Spanish artist to receive one of the most important national awards in Belgium: Prix de la Jeune Peinture Belge in 2005.

He has participated in numerous exhibitions in national and international institutions, such as: Le Delta (Namur), CAC (Málaga), MACBA (Barcelona), Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (USA), Imperial Belvedere Palace (Vienna), Maison Particulière Art Centre (Brussels), BB6 Bucharest International Biennial of Contemporary Art (Bucharest), 5th Thessaloniki Biennial of Contemporary Art (Thessaloniki), Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil (Mexico City), Pabellón de L'Exile (Paris), Palazzo Riso-Arte Contemporaneo Museum of Palermo (Sicily), De Bond Museum (Brugge), Museum of Contemporary Art Canada (Montreal), among others.

His work can be found in important public collections, among them: CAAC (Spain), Banco de España (Spain), ARTIUM (Spain), MACBA (Spain), Fondation Francès (France), ARTER (Turkey), CAC (Spain), Maison Particulière (Belgium), Museum Biedermann (Germany), Progress Art, (Saudi Arabia), Caja Madrid Collection (Spain), National Belgium Bank (Belgium), 21c Museum (USA), MAK (Austria), MAK (Austria), MAK (Austria), MAK (Germany), MAK (Austria), MAK (Austria). USA), MAK (Austria, Frans Masereel Centrum (Belgium), Space Collection (Belgium), CA2M (Spain), Les Abattoirs-FRAC Occitanie (France), Benetton Foundation (Italy).

Text courtesy Sabrina Amrani.

Carlos Aires
featured artworks

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FACE TO FACE WITH DEATH II (Crisis Edition) by Carlos Aires contemporary artwork mixed media
Carlos Aires FACE TO FACE WITH DEATH II (Crisis Edition), 2025 Original banknotes, golden pins, cardboard, wooden frame with gold leaf, antireflective museum glass
135 x 200 x 9 cm
Sabrina Amrani Request Price & Availability
PRIVATE DANCER by Carlos Aires contemporary artwork sculpture, photography
Carlos Aires PRIVATE DANCER, 2025 Cotton archival photo paper, golden pins, cardboard, gold leaf covered wooden frame, antireflective museum glass
160 x 118 x 10 cm
Sabrina Amrani Request Price & Availability
Mirror I ( Crisis Edition) by Carlos Aires contemporary artwork sculpture, mixed media
Carlos Aires Mirror I ( Crisis Edition), 2025 Original banknotes from the 30 richest countries in the world (based on GDP), golden pins, cardboard, passepartout, gold leaf film on wooden frame, and anti-reflective museum glass
220 x 150 x 9 cm
Sabrina Amrani Request Price & Availability
BLIND by Carlos Aires contemporary artwork sculpture, photography
Carlos Aires BLIND, 2025 Lanterns with archival images of global catastrophes
Sabrina Amrani Request Price & Availability
MIRROR I by Carlos Aires contemporary artwork painting, works on paper
Carlos Aires MIRROR I, 2025 Blackest black paint, paper, cardboard, golden pins, cardboard, hand dyed wooden frame and antireflective museum glass
220 x 150 x 9 cm
Sabrina Amrani Request Price & Availability
I only have eyes for you V by Carlos Aires contemporary artwork sculpture
Carlos Aires I only have eyes for you V, 2023 Porcelain glassed plates, forex, magnets
175 x 13 cm
Zilberman Request Price & Availability
La Mentira, From Love Song For Time Of Crisis series (Mexico Banknote) by Carlos Aires contemporary artwork works on paper, photography, mixed media
Carlos Aires La Mentira, From Love Song For Time Of Crisis series (Mexico Banknote), 2023 Cotton archival photo paper, golden pins, cardboard, gold leaf covered wooden frame, antireflective museum glass
160 x 120 x 10 cm
Zilberman Request Price & Availability
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You From ‘Love Song From Time Of Crisis’ Series Turkey Banknote by Carlos Aires contemporary artwork sculpture, photography
Carlos Aires Can’t Take My Eyes Off You From ‘Love Song From Time Of Crisis’ Series Turkey Banknote, 2024 Cotton archival photo paper, gold pins, cardboard, gold leaf film on wooden frame, museum glass
160 x 120 x 10 cm
Zilberman
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Carlos Aires
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Zilberman contemporary art gallery in Istanbul, Turkiye
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