Raúl de Nieves

Raúl de Nieves: My name is Raúl de Nieves.

My project for the Whitney Biennial consists with a series of figurative sculptures that become the ground for this installation. Within the works, three of the pieces are costume works that I often use in my performances.

The way I work is very manual.

I often give myself several years to complete a work. I want to transform it into something that will help me understand who I am as an artist. The work really comes from the idea of the transformation of itself.

These two creatures, they are titled You and Me, wear a pair of shoes that I wore for several years until I couldn't wear them anymore because they had holes. So what I decided to do was [to] create a memento with these pieces, to sit with them with time as much as they gave me. Now they look like stalagmites or coral creatures, organic forms, but they come from waste once again, and trying to turn what is supposed to be thrown away turned into a whole new idea.