Fuentesal&Arenillas presented within Iniciarte Program in Seville the exhibition “We are looking for” a series of works produced between 2014 and 2015 trying to explores the past, present and future of social and ecological development by examining individual and collective human lifestyles.

The artistic duo decided to present a work-in-progress where each piece aspires to be read but not dogmatically interpreted from the subjective viewpoints of their spectators, who will undoubtedly find something familiar about every object and image. Although there is not a clearly defined narrative in the conventional sense, they always provide an opening scene, freely welcoming all who dare to unravel the knots and imagine possible connections between each tale. With this joint approach, Fuentesal and Arenillas have each taken responsibility for an equal share of their work as well as of the space in which that work is made visible to the public, knowing that art cannot dialogue only with itself but must connect with the physical, social and emotional context around it. Nonetheless, in this space of poetic intervals, the artists' biographical details are present in each creation, shared with generous openness and always with a view to the perceptions and connections they can establish with each spectator. The photographic series Talgo is a good case in point. Each image represents the polarity of certain emotions shared by the artists, knowing that we, their audience, have also witnessed the same minimal gestures, and allowing a performative quality to surface in the seemingly inert forms and materials of curtain folds or objects laconically and carelessly tossed on the seats of a train. Every once in a while, we sense the imperceptible movement of a landscape in the background, designed to distract us from the foreground and force our eyes to focus on the random scene that frames it.

In their work, Fuentesal and Arenillas update the old art/life equation in order to forge personal emotional bonds in a socio-political space that clearly transcends the art world as we have understood it up until now. As artists firmly rooted in the present, Fuentesal and Arenillas honestly believe that their contributions pertain to a new scenario where relevant changes are already beginning to appear. Their precise practice, like that of so many artists whose investigations strike out in multiple directions and explore just as many levels of representation, is not a definitive formula for success or failure. Artistic skills have ceased to be necessary. The value of art is now determined by its ideology. Art does not need to inform, manipulate or comfort. Such tasks can be performed through any direct action, strategy or medium.

The exhibition catalogue features an essay by Juan de Nieves.