JUAN MIGUEL PALACIOS

Always in pursuit of change

SKINS-II

My current practice focuses on creating layers or “skins” of acrylic paint on temporary surfaces that are later transferred and adhered to a final support. While each body of work employs different processes and results in distinct formal languages, they are united by a common premise: to treat paint not as a vehicle for representation, but as an autonomous material whose surface retains the physical memory of the actions, time, and conditions that brought it into being.

The conceptual content of these works is closely tied to their own execution. The process begins by painting on large nonporous surfaces, mostly plastic, which I previously deform, stretch, or wrinkle, exploring their own limits as a material. After applying thick layers of acrylic paint onto these surfaces I peel off the resulting films and transfer them onto the canvas, preserving the tensions, folds, and deformations generated during the earlier process while maintaining the flatness of the painted surface

Skins II Series

The Skins II series represents a natural evolution of Skins I. While the earlier works focused on preserving the material traces and incidental marks generated through the act of painting, this new body of work shifts its attention toward the physical identity of the paint skin itself. The interest is no longer limited to recording the residues of the creative process, but extends to the forces, tensions, and transformations that shape the material throughout its formation.

Each work is the result of painting on the plastic sheets I use to cover my studio walls while working on other paintings. At the same time, these plastic surfaces are deliberately manipulated through folds, wrinkles, stretches, punctures, and tension, while also being transformed by the gradual passage of time. After applying successive uniform layers of acrylic paint, they register not only the traces of the painting process but also the physical transformations of the plastic itself. Once the paint has fully cured, the resulting skin is peeled away and transferred to its final support, retaining the memory of every fold, deformation, puncture, and every accumulated layer embedded throughout its formation.

The plastic is no longer simply a surface that collects paint residues; it becomes an active participant in the work. Its folds, wrinkles, tensions, and imperfections are transferred directly into the paint skin, where they remain permanently embedded. Every intervention leaves a physical imprint, transforming the surface into a record of the forces that have acted upon it.

Airbrushed shadows and subtle tonal transitions do not create an illusionistic image but instead reveal and emphasize the latent topography already present within the material itself. Rather than describing space, they intensify the physical presence of the paint skin, allowing it to oscillate between painting and object, between surface and relief.

In Skins II, painting no longer functions as a vehicle for representation. It becomes trace, body, and material evidence. Every fold records a gesture, every puncture preserves the memory of an action, and every deformation bears witness to a physical event that has taken place. The work does not depict a process; it embodies it.

Rather than concealing the process beneath a finished image, these works reveal it as their essential material. Paint ceases to imitate reality and instead acquires an autonomous presence, carrying within its surface the accumulated memory of time, action, and transformation.