- The DELIRARTE exhibition will be exhibited in the DLRO Live room from June 5 to July 3.
- The artist from La Mancha, José Carlos León, uses ultraviolet light to reveal the impact of bullying and collective injuries.
- The cultural event is part of the official agenda of Madrid Orgullo (MADO) for the resignification of queer identity.
The Sample t festival presents the exhibition DELIRARTE in the DLRO Live room in Madrid to make LGTBIQ+ historical memory visible. The exhibition by the artistic firm Amariconarte, open until July 3, uses black light technology to uncover the insults and hidden scars carried by the group.
The DLRO Live space is transformed under the neon of the night
The Sample t festival, integrated into the extensive cultural program of Madrid Orgullo (MADO), once again turns this well-known nightlife enclave into an engaged gallery. For almost a month, the walls of the premises will fuse the aesthetics of neon and night with plastic proposals that invite social reflection. The pieces in the collection play directly with a marked formal duality that depends entirely on the ambient lighting.
Under ordinary lighting, the paintings display magnetic, striking and purely pop colors. However, activating the black light bulbs drastically alters the surface of the canvases. This controlled transformation reveals coded messages, psychological marks and verbal disqualifications that usually remain invisible to the naked eye. With this design resource, the creator ensures that the festive celebration and historical pain coexist simultaneously.
The collective wounds of Queer Wounds painting
The work titled Queer Wounds stands out as one of the discursive pillars of this project in Sample t. The painting represents an androgynous figure inspired by the classic iconography of San Sebastian, a body that appears completely pierced by a series of golden arrows. The author strips the saint of its traditional meaning to turn it into a contemporary symbol of community resistance.
The canvas shows a large rainbow flag that acts as a protective mantle and collective belonging. The interactivity of the piece arises when the ultraviolet tubes are turned on, at which point the homophobic insults that the group has endured over recent years emerge against the background of the flag. The technique emphasizes the constant transition between open wound and political pride.
Bullying and the portrayal of violence in the school environment
Discrimination during childhood focuses the discourse of Bullying, a work made using a mixed technique of acrylic and oil on canvas. The painting portrays a child with makeup posing in front of a very intense neon pink background. This aesthetic appearance, markedly sweet and innocent, functions as a strong ironic contrast to the harshness of the message that the composition hides.
Exposure to ultraviolet light progressively reveals derogatory terms printed on the child’s features and background, such as “faggot”, “gay” or “sissy”. These words emerge alongside invisible wounds that seek to represent the psychological impact of rejection, continuous mockery and daily humiliation that children of diverse identities suffer in educational centers in Spain.
José Carlos León and painting as a speaker of queer memory
Behind the name of Amariconarte is José Carlos León, a creator originally from Castilla-La Mancha but firmly established in the Madrid art scene. His pictorial career focuses on analyzing with a critical perspective the emotional reality, sexual affects and social challenges that condition the routine of homosexual, bisexual and trans people.
Through a purely figurative technique, León has established himself on the state scene as a specialist in reformulating the terms of urban hatred. Its participation in the Muestra t festival consolidates its commitment to the historical memory of dissidents, demonstrating that nightlife spaces are also suitable settings to house historical memory and collective reparation through culture.
The exhibition will remain available completely free of charge to all attendees who come to the center of Madrid, serving as a cultural prelude to the large political demonstrations that will take over the main avenues of the capital during the coming weeks of international celebration.
