About

Selected exhibitions  

Solo exhibitions

2022 Party of a lifetime, curated by Marcello Farabegoli, Kunstraum Feller/Vienna Art Week, Vienna, Austria

2022 Conexiones naturales entre espejimos y realidades CEART, Mexico

2018 Litos Liquen CECUT Tijuana.

2017 Semilla del paraíso  ICM  Vienna, Austria.

2017 Flora nativa en el paisaje invadido, Deslave, Tijuana. 

Group exhibitions

2023 Patchwork, YCC, Vienna, Austria

2023 TRAUMA Monologe gallery, Belgrade, Serbia

2022 SMOM overload, KUBUS export, Vienna, Austria

2022 Tratado material, 12-14 contemporary, Vienna, Austria

2022 Uncurated, Kunstraum Feller by Marcello Farabegoli Vienna, Austria Vienna,

2021 In search of the lost Unity, fAN, Vienna, Austria.

2021 Trauma, Kunstraum Munchen, In the frame of VARIOUS OTHERS. Munich, Germany.

2021 Perspectives of Transformation, Meno Parkas gallery/ Marcello Farabegoli projects, Kaunas, Lithuania

2020 Utopia de una transformacion 12-14 contemporary.

2020 Fuck you Albedo, Improper Walls, Vienna, Austria.   

2019 Open studios Vienna Art Week. 

2019 Is this intimacy Curators agenda Krinzinger projekt.

2019 Ibiennale  Honolulu,Hawaii.

2019 Biennale Sessions, Biennale di Venezia.

2019 Consciousness reframed  Porto, Portugal.

2019 Praise the laziness, 12-14 contemporary, Vienna, Austria.

2018 Being here with you  Museum of Contemporary art of San Diego.

2017 Event Horizon, Joshua Treenial, California, U.S.A 

2017 Boiling Process 5: Mythodologies, San Diego Art Institute. 2015 Revision Glocal/ Glocal Review El Cubo, Tijuana, Mexico.

2015 Boiling Process JAUS, Los Angeles, U.S.A.

2014 Boiling Process, TJINCHINA, Tijuana, Mexico. 

Art fairs/Auctions

2023 Museo de Arte de Sinaloa, Mexico 

2023 After party curated by Marcello Farabegoli, Parallel Vienna

2022 Parallel Editions with fAN, Vienna, Austria

2020 Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego Auction.

2020 Marcello Farabegoli Projects, Parallel Vienna  Austria.

2018 Salon ACME, Mexico city.

Artist Residencies 

2018 ART OMI, New York, U.S.A.

2017 Kulturdrogerie Vienna, Austria.

2016 Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, Austria

Artist Talks

2023 Art & Science forum, Meta Spatiu gallery, Timisoara, Romania

2022 Party of a lifetime with Elisabeth von Samsonow

2021 In search of the lost unity with Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein, ICM, Vienna, Austria.

2020 taboo, transgression and transcendence in art & science, Vienna, Austria.

2019 21st International Consciousness Reframed, Porto, Portugal

2018 29 Sessions in Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego, U.S.A.

2017 Semilla del Paraiso, Institute of Mexican Culture with curator Koan Jeff Baysa, Vienna, Austria.

2017 Laser Talks, UC Santa Barbara, U.S.A. 

  Selected Collections 

   Permanent collection Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego, U.S.A

   Archive collection Art Omi

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STUDIES

Masters in Art & Science, Die Angewandte, Vienna, Austria

Bachelors Plastic Arts, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, México

Room to bloom: Leveraging obstacles to feminist and migrant artist careers, Palermo, Italy

GRANTS, SCHOLARSHIPS AND ART RESIDENCIES

2023 Filotimo art residency, Athens Greece, with the support of Room to Bloom and European Alternatives 

2022 MA7 and Bezirk 7, Austria

2021 BMKÖS, Austria 

2018-2020 FONCA-CONACYT, Estudios en el extranjero, México

2018 ART OMI, New York, U.S.A

2017 APROART, México

2017 KULTURDROGERIE PROJEKT, Vienna, Austria

2016 KUNSTHALLE EXNERGASSE, Vienna, Austria

COLLECTIONS 

Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego, USA

Art Omi, USA 

ART FAIRS AND AUCTIONS

2023 Auction Museo de Arte de Sinaloa (MASIN), Culiacán, México 

2023 Parallel Vienna, Solo Project Statement with Marcello Farabegoli projects, Vienna, Austria 

2022 Vienna Parallel Editions, Fine Art network

2020 Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego Art Auction, Artsy Platform

2020 Marcello Farabegoli Projects, Parallel Vienna, Austria

2018 SALON ACME, Mexico City

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022 PARTY OF A LIFETIME curated by Marcello Farabegoli, Kunstraum Feller, Vienna, Austria. Part of Vienna Art Week

2022 PARTY OF A LIFETIME prelude, Red Carpet Showroom Volkstheater, Vienna, Austria

2022 CONEXIONES NATURALES ENTRE ESPEJISMOS Y REALIDADES curated by Olga Margarita Davila, Centro Estatal de las Artes, Tijuana, Mexico

2021 Red Carpet Showroom, Schottentor Station, Vienna, Austria

2018 LITOS LIQUEN, CECUT, Tijuana, México

2017 SEMILLA DEL PARAÍSO curated by Koan Baysa, Institute of Mexican Culture , Vienna, Austria

2017 LET IT MULTIPLE TIMES INFINITE FOLD, KULTURDROGERIE PROJEKT Vienna, Austria

2017 FLORA NATIVA EN EL PAISAJE INVADIDO, Deslave, Tijuana, México

2016 SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN THE EXOTIC IS SACRED, Kunsthalle Exnergasse residency space Vienna, Austria

2013 RETROSPECTIVA , Praxis, Tijuana, México

ARTIST TALKS AND ART & SCIENCE CONFERENCES

2023 METAFORUM art & science, Timisoara, Romania 

2022 PARTY OF A LIFETIME, Artist talk with Paula Flores and Elisabeth von Samsonow. 

2022 ROOM TO BLOOM FESTIVAL, National Museums of World Cultures, Malmo, Sweden

2021 IN SEARCH OF THE LOST UNITY with Jose Manuel Springer et. al., Institute of Mexican Culture, Vienna, Austria

2021 IN SEARCH OF THE LOST UNITY with Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein et. al., Institute of Mexican Culture, Vienna, Austria

2020 TABOO, TRANSGRESSION AND TRANSCENDENCE IN ART & SCIENCE, Vienna, Austria

2019 CONSCIOUSNESS REFRAMED, Porto, Portugal

2018 29 SESSIONS IN CONTEMPORARY ART, San Diego, U.S.A

2017 SEMIILLA DEL PARAÍSO WITH KOAN BAYSA et. al., Institute of Mexican Culture , Vienna, Austria

2017 KOAN BAYSA et. al. KULTURDROGERIE PROJEKT, Vienna, Austria

2017 LASER TALKS UC Santa Barbara, U.S.A

2016 OPEN STUDIOS KEX, Vienna Art Week, Vienna, Austria

GROUP SHOWS

2024 LOS INVITADOS (THE GUESTS) by Maxico, Venice, Italy 

2024 Becoming mycelial, KH7 art space, Aarhus, Denmark

2024 A leaflet project, Filotimo residency, Athens, Greece 

2024 Ecologies of Care gathering, Avtonomi Akadimia, Athens, Greece

2023 Patchwork, Young Curators Club, Lautlos.haus, Vienna, Austria

2023 TRAUMA, Monolog gallery, Belgrade, Serbia 

2023 Villa Farsetti Santa Maria di Sale, Venice, Italy 

2023 DINGE, Q202, Atelierrungang, Vienna, Austria 

2023 TRAUMA, CRAC Spazio Arte, Castelnuovo Rangone, Italy

2022 SMOM OVERLOAD -uncensorable-, Vali Export KUBUS/Guadalupe Aldrete and Vaida Tamoševičiūtė, Vienna, Austria

2022 TOCADOR, VBKÖ, Vienna, Austria

2022 TRATADO MATERIAL, 12-14 contemporary, Vienna, Austria

2022 SMOM OVERLOAD, Meno Parkas gallery/ Guadalupe Aldrete and Vaida Tamoševičiūtė, Kaunas, Lithuania

2022 UNCURATED, Kunstraum Feller/Marcello Farabegoli Projects,Vienna, Austria

2021 IN SEARCH OF THE LOST UNITY, fAN/ Ute Burkhardt-Bodenwinkler, Vienna, Austria

2021 TRAUMA, Kunstraum Munich/ Denise Parizek, In the frame of VARIOUS OTHERS, Munich, Germany

2021 IN SEARCH OF THE LOST UNITY, 12-14 contemporary/ Marcello Farabegoli , Vienna, Austria

2021 PERSPECTIVES OF TRANSFORMATION, Meno Parkas gallery/ Marcello Farabegoli, Kaunas, Lithuania

2020 CONTINUO LATIDO AMERICANO de Performance, Convento de San Agustin, Antic Teatre, Barcelona,

12-14 Contemporary Vienna · Third Space, Helsinki

2020 UTOPÍA DE UNA TRANSFORMACIÓN/Luciana Esqueda and Denise Parizek, 12-14 Contemporary, Vienna, Austria

2020 FUCK YOU ALBEDO, Improper Walls, Vienna, Austria

2020 HOSPITALITY, Hinterland gallery, Vienna, Austria

2020 GLÜCKSRENNTAG, WUK, Vienna, Austria

2020 MAFA7, Timisoara, Romania

2019 OPEN STUDIOS, Vienna Art week , Vienna, Austria

2019 IS THIS INTIMACY, Krinzinger Projekt/ Curators agenda, Vienna, Austria

2019 Globart Academy, Klosternneuburg, Austria

2019 PRAISE THE LAZINESS, 12-14 CONTEMPORARY/ Denise Parizek, Vienna, Austria

2019 CONSCIOUSNESS REFRAMED Porto, Portugal.

2019 BIENNALE SESSIONS, Biennale di Venezia 2019, Venice, Italy

2019 IBIENNALE/Koan Baysa, Honolulu, Hawai’i

2018 APPLIED MICROPERFORMATIVITY, AIL, Vienna, Austria

2018 BEING HERE WITH YOU/ ESTANDO AQUI CONTIGO,Museum of Contemporary art of San Diego/ Jill Dawsey and Anthony Graham, San Diego, U.S.A

2018 MEXI-CAIDO Naebono art studios/ Kio Grifith, Japan

2018 SALON ACME, Mexico City, Mexico

2017 EVENT HORIZON BOXO projects, Joshua Tree, U.S.A

2017 MITHOLOGIES San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, U.S.A

2017 MITHOLOGIES PERFORMANCE NIGHT, San Diego Art Institute, U.S.A

2017 MITHOLOGIES San Diego Art Institute, Ichiro Irie, San Diego, U.S.A

2016 THE FRONT GALLERY, San Ysidro, U.S.A

2016 FABRIK EXPO, Los Angeles, U.S.A

2015 REVISION GLOCAL/ GLOCAL REVIEW, CUBO/Mely Barragan and Daniel Ruanova, Tijuana, Mexico

2015 JOSHUA TREENIAL, Joshua Tree, U.S.A

2015 BOILING PROCESS 3, Mexicali Rose, Mexicali, MEXICO

2015 THE FRONT GALLERY, San Ysidro, U.S.A

2015 BOILING PROCESS, Jaus gallery, Los Angeles, U.S.A

2014 BYOB, Tjinchina, Tijuana, México

2014 BOILING PROCESS, Tjinchina, Tijuana, México

2013 PREFACIO, Sala de Arte Álvaro Blancarte, Tijuana, México.

2013 Entre parentesis gallery, Tijuana, México

Duality also plays an important role for Paula Flores, in the context of nature. In general, she is concerned with the complexity of nature, with our knowledge or ignorance of it and our relationship to it. How is it possible, the artist wonders, that Western capitalist imperialist thought, conceived predominantly by men, has enabled a part of humanity to legitimize the exploitation of enslaved and oppressed populations and groups of people, and nature no less? Thus, Flores seeks ways to change, dismantle, and overcome these hierarchical conceptual constructs. To do so, she is studying extraordinary ways of communication between humans and other species, such as fungi, bacteria, and plants. She hopes that this could lead to a shift in the balance of power and possibly pave the way for a more balanced relationship between humans and nature that would benefit the entire planet. Specifically, Flores is interested in the duality between life and death and questions where the sharp boundary between these concepts might be found. Regarding this fundamental contrast, it should be mentioned that the famous Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger, with his legendary essay “What is Life” published about seventy years ago, had pointed out the great riddles of the phenomenon of life as well as the associated principal explanatory hurdles, and at the same time had given an essential impulse to genetics. Remarkably, the current state of knowledge is still not sufficient to understand how life arose. Likewise, it is still technically impossible at present to create artificial life. Last but not least, a virus, i.e. a being which exists as such by definition between life and death, plays a generally known frightening role in the last time. Furthermore, in so-called animistic religions, for example, a personal soul is attributed to any natural object. Especially in their youth, some people today may still have the ability to feel this all-soul; some artists in particular often cultivate this ability throughout their lives. In her childhood, Flores herself was able to cherish a magical feeling concerning nature and recognized this particular effect even more intensely in the stories of her grandparents who grew up in the countryside. Flores’ will to find a way of transformation by means of explorative-artistic work, which is to break through the dual concept of life and death, seems to be particularly radical. Last but not least, she believes that through this she can attain a connection to beings that animate the universe. The core of the installation “Mediation” (2021) by Paula Flores are the three sculptures made from the mycelia of mushrooms. According to Wikipedia, in common parlance, only the visible fruiting bodies are referred to as mushrooms. The actual fungus, however, is predominantly the fine, thread-like structure (hyphae) existing mycelium in the soil or in the wood, which is mostly not perceived because of its occurrence in these opaque substrates. Fungal mycelia can grow to a size of over a square kilometer, a huge biological mass, and an old age. Mycelia are vital in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems for their role in the decomposition of plant material and are the primary factor in a plant’s health, nutrient intake, and growth and fitness. Flores has been experimenting with mycelia for a long time in order to specifically grow them into compact shapes and then let them dry out, whereby in most cases this process also means the death of these living beings. The three sculptures in this installation seem somehow like prehistoric eggs, which could have come from dinosaurs or are even of extraterrestrial origin. When you take them in hand, you notice how light and fragile these filaments that have grown together are. The gold foil on which the artist places the sculptures indicates the high value of this species for our ecosystem and thus also for our human survival on earth. The black and white fur simply symbolizes the principle of duality itself, in which we humans are mostly caught. It is noteworthy that Flores also opts for an artificial material that mimics a natural one… By bringing or forcing a hidden, essential living being so radically to light, so to speak, the artist seems to want to suggest to us what a fine, immense network of hidden things, many-valued logic, quantum physical superpositions between dual principles, between thesis and antithesis, between particles and waves, matter and immaterial things can still exist.

Writter by: Marcello Farabegoli

Jill Dawsey, curator and Anthony Graham, Assistant curator.

In her sculptural installations, Paula Flores brings together found and recycled objects, both natural and synthetic, to render the indigenous flora and fauna of the San Diego/Tijuana region-a continuous landscape that is defined, divided and altered by human intervention. The installation Native Flora in the Invaded Landscape points to questions around geography and territory, and the effect of climate change on the environment. Plants such as the barrel cactus and elderberry tree are rendered in plastic and metallic materials, their natural qualities skewed by the playfulness of their neon colors. At times, these are contrasted with earthen material, such as piles of ash. Elsewhere, textiles and yarn wrap around the sculptures like vines, growing improbably and, at times, invasively. Crossing her role as an artist with that of a botanist, Flores creates landscapes that exist between the observable, biological world and the imagination.

Paula Flores was born and raised in the hectic border city of Tijuana Mexico and partly raised in San Diego. She has a bachelors in visual art from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California and a Masters in Art & Science from the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Flores ́s work is part of the permanent collection of the Museum for Contemporary Art of San Diego, U.S.A. Collection of ARTOMI, New York, U.S.A and private collections around the world.
The mycelium of her large family ranges from the African continent to indigenous tribes of present-day Mexico and European ancestors who immigrated to Mexico after independence in search of a better life.  The history of her family contains many diverse events that have been enriched by the combination of various traditions.
Using rocks, branches, plants, bacteria, fungi as guides, storytellers of the history of the world and the symbiotic relationships that had to be established and kept in balance for the existence of what we know as nature, she explores human understandings of who we are out and inside of the natural world by applying the role of the mediator and inverting it in all ways possible. Paula Flores is pushing herself to leave the concepts and comfort of what it is to be either, or.

Paula Flores is a storyteller of an archaic, shamanistic nature. But she is anything but esoteric; she is rooted in the traditions of her ancestors and transfers ancient knowledge into our time. Her installations are arranged from a kind of modules, adapted to the theme and space, interpreted.
The viewer is taken back to the level of our roots, exposed to an archaic and yet timeless aura. Influenced by her grandparents’ upbringing, she never completely cut her roots; the treasures were hidden deep inside her until she found a form for visualising her concerns through her artistic work.

As a graduate of Prof Virgil Widrich’s Art & Science class at the University of Applied Arts / Vienna, she knows the interfaces between art and science and is constantly expanding them through a series of experiments. In addition to her personal experiences and traditional roots, Flores is inspired, influenced and confirmed by scientists, ethnobotanists and mycologists.

With the installation ‘Party of a Lifetime’ at Kunstraum Fellner in Vienna in 2022, curated by Marcelle Farabegoli, the artist refers to the knowledge of various cultural groups such as the Kumiai and Kiliwa (Baja California), Maria Sabina (Mazatec) and the Nashua culture. The visionary idea of interconnectedness, real and spiritual realms are interwoven and interdependent. Flores was introduced to the tradition of the stories by her paternal grandfather. During later travels, she researched different parts of Mexico and absorbed the diverse cultures with their myths, fairy tales and references to nature.
This exhibition was also a tribute to Maria Sabina, a Mazatec healer and shaman, who opened the door to the forgotten world of mushrooms to the West by sharing her knowledge with Gordon Wasson. Wasson had been inspired by his wife Valentina Pavlova to delve into this archaic knowledge. The public naturally gave him all the credit for opening up the world of psychedelic mushrooms without linking it to the highly relevant Mazatec cultural connections, or telling of Maria Sabina’s knowledge to Valentina Pavlovna’s guidance.

As always, Flores combines myths with science and in this project also processed the astonishing information she received from books by ethnobotanists such as Dr. Mark Plotkin or scientists such as Lynn Margulis and ‘Entangled Life’ by Merlin Sheldrake. Like an eye-opener, Sheldrake, for example, specifically pointed out how complex the life of fungi is and how parallel the structures of communication and socialisation are compared to humans. The artist’s suggestions to the audience are an attempt to enter into a kind of symbiogenesis in order to rebalance the relationship between humans and their environment, nature, with all kinds of living creatures, fungi, lichens, animals, plants and ourselves.  

Far removed from all folkloristic clichés, her drawings appear like painted dreams of an intact, functioning world, of places of longing. Minimalistic, she hints at what she sees as essential stations in nature, sometimes with bold brushstrokes, sometimes delicately washed out and glazed. She produced specific artworks for her ancestors like PARA SACARTE LOS AHUATES video and painting which is dedicated to her grandfather and several works like NAHUALES which are dedicated to her grandmother. In general many of her exhibitions were also a tribute to her ancestors that she was lucky to know personally and the ones that she didn’t know thanking them for their knowledge and efforts that put everything together for her being here. Thanking for her entangled lineage and for the efforts and sacrifices of the ones that went before her.  

Living in Vienna, her longing for her roots intensifies, a kind of homesickness, causing archaic approaches to bubble up again and again far away from her homeland. This approach is particularly evident in her work „Cozze“, which she presented as a land art project at the Marco della Pace in Santa Croce della Battaglia/Laure Keyrouz Foundation in September 2024. Like the cozze/ mussel, Flores were also transplanted. Cozze were originally an important food for the indigenous people on the coasts of the American continent. Through cultivation in Europe since Roman times and with the development of mankind, mussels attained the status of luxury food or instrumentalist as a cleaning organism. The installation thus transports the entire history of the object and gives the artwork an ambiguity that can be taken away.

The artist always anticipates the urgent change in our mind and explores this theme from different angles. She never asks questions about why humanity has come to this point and which factors were and are responsible for it. The most important thing in her work is that it gives hope and fills us with joy. Colours characterise her style and radiate warmth and joy. This radiance is passed on to the viewer. Paula Flores takes her colours from nature, her unfathomable template: pigments are combined with gold dust or spices, supplemented with copper paints, organic and inorganic materials drape over and under the sculptural works, iridescent fabrics and foils give depth, dried chilli and herbs fill the air, mycelium grows in casts like living sculptures.
The odor of the chillies filled the space of Kunstraum München in her installation „Vicarious Tears“ on the occasion of the „Trauma“ travel exhibition in 2021. Visitors had to cope with the intense smell and tears forcing air. At the „Trauma“ show at Monolog Gallery in Belgrade she used holy herbs, like white salvia, in her installation „Salvia Blanca“. The combination between visual appearance and scent is an important method in her work. She tries to catch several senses of the visitor. Paula Flores involves all the viewer’s feelings and seduces all the senses. Immersing yourself in this world as it could be has almost healing powers. A connection to Marina Abramovic’s approach to expanding the concept of art is obvious.

The artist demonstrated her performative approach in her performance series “QUELITES” 2019-2022 in particular. Paula Flores spent nights under a blanket made of Mexican sheep’s wool and sprinkled with seeds, literally listening to the seeds swell and grow. She describes the experience under this blanket as a feeling of security and unity, in complete contrast to the fantasies of the viewers, who tend to describe the situation as cold, wet or disgusting.

On the occasion of her Installation „Invision Jaguars“ 2024 in Meta Spatiu/ Timisoara în the show „Avoiding Memories“ she wrote:
„LIFE itself can never be fully soft and easy for the one who lives it and for the lives attached to each other. LIFE can never be by human standards fairly and equally proportionate either in the good or the bad. Somehow we insist on control and predictability. LIFE needs freedom in its own definition.“

Her installations, sculptures and paintings are proposals that she puts up for discussion, invitations to change one’s perspective, to allow empathy including an invitation to experience more.

GERMAN

Paula Flores ist in der hektischen Grenzstadt Tijuana, Mexiko, geboren und in Tijuana und San Diego aufgewachsen. Sie hat einen Bachelor-Abschluss in Bildender Kunst an der Universidad Autónoma de Baja California und einen Master-Abschluss in Kunst & Wissenschaft von der Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien. Flores’ Arbeiten sind Teil der ständigen Sammlung des Museums für zeitgenössische Kunst in San Diego, USA, der Sammlung von ARTOMI, New York, USA, und von Privatsammlungen in aller Welt.
Das Myzel ihrer großen Familie reicht vom afrikanischen Kontinent über indigene Stämme des heutigen Mexiko bis hin zu europäischen Vorfahren, die nach der Unabhängigkeit Mexikos einwanderten, auf der Suche nach einem besseren Leben. Die Geschichte ihrer Familie enthält viele unterschiedliche Ereignisse, die durch die Kombination verschiedener Traditionen bereichert wurden.

Paula Flores ist eine Geschichtenerzählerin von archaischer, schamanistischer Natur. Aber sie ist alles andere als esoterisch, sie ist in den Traditionen ihrer Vorfahren verwurzelt und überträgt altes Wissen in unsere Zeit. Ihre Installationen werden aus einer Art Modulen zusammengestellt, dem Thema und dem Raum angepasst und interpretiert. Sie nutzt Steine, Äste, Pflanzen, Bakterien und Pilze als Wegweiser und Geschichtenerzähler über die Geschichte der Welt und die symbiotischen Beziehungen, die für die Existenz dessen, was wir als Natur kennen, aufgebaut und im Gleichgewicht gehalten werden mussten. Paula Flores drängt sich selbst dazu, die Konzepte und die Bequemlichkeit des Entweder-Oder zu verlassen.

Der Betrachter wird auf die Ebene unserer Wurzeln zurückgeführt und einer archaischen und doch zeitlosen Aura ausgesetzt. Beeinflusst durch die Erziehung ihrer Großeltern, hat sie ihre Wurzeln nie ganz gekappt; die Schätze waren tief in ihr verborgen, bis sie eine Form fand, ihre Anliegen durch ihre künstlerische Arbeit zu visualisieren.
Als Absolventin der Klasse Art & Science von Prof. Virgil Widrich an der Universität für angewandte Kunst / Wien kennt sie die Schnittstellen zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft und erweitert diese ständig durch eine Reihe von Experimenten. Neben ihren persönlichen Erfahrungen und traditionellen Wurzeln wird Flores von Wissenschaftlern, Ethno-Botanikern und Mykologen inspiriert, beeinflusst und bestätigt.

Mit der Installation „Party of a Lifetime“ im Kunstraum Fellner in Wien im Jahr 2022, kuratiert von Marcelle Farabegoli, bezieht sich die Künstlerin auf das Wissen verschiedener Kulturgruppen wie der Kumiai und Kiliwa (Baja California), Maria Sabina (Mazatec) und der Nashua Kultur. Die visionäre Vorstellung der Verbundenheit, reale und spirituelle Bereiche sind ineinander verwoben und bedingen einander. Flores ist durch ihren Großvater väterlicherseits in die Tradition der Geschichten eingeführt worden. Bei späteren Reisen recherchierte sie in verschiedenen Teilen Mexikos und sog die diversen Kulturen mit ihren Mythen, Märchen und Bezügen zur Natur auf.
Diese Ausstellung war auch eine Hommage an Maria Sabina, eine mazatekische Heilerin und Schamanin, die dem Westen die Tür zur vergessenen Welt der Pilze öffnete, indem sie ihr Wissen mit Gordon Wasson teilte. Wasson war von seiner Frau Valentina Pavlova inspiriert worden,  sich in dieses archaische Wissen zu vertiefen. Die Öffentlichkeit schrieb natürlich alle Anerkennung, die Welt der psychedelischen Pilze eröffnet zu haben, ihm zu, ohne sie mit den hoch relevanten kulturellen Mazatec-Verbindungen zu verknüpfen, beziehungsweise von Maria Sabinas Wissen bis hin zur Anleitung durch Valentina Pavlovna zu erzählen.

Wie immer verbindet Flores Mythen mit Wissenschaft und verarbeitete in diesem Projekt auch die verblüffenden Informationen, die sie aus Büchern von Ethnobotanist:innen wie Dr. Mark Plotkin oder Wissenschaftler:innen wie Lynn Margulis sowie „Entangled Life“ von Merlin Sheldrake erhielt. Wie ein Augenöffner zeigte z.B. Sheldrake zeigt gezielt auf, wie komplex das Leben von Pilzen ist und wie parallel die Strukturen der Kommunikation und Sozialisation im Vergleich zum Menschen sind. Die Vorschläge der Künstlerin an das Publikum sind der Versuch, einer Art Symbiogenese einzugehen, um die Beziehung des Menschen zu seiner Umwelt, der Natur, mit allen Arten von Lebewesen, Pilzen, Flechten, Tieren, Pflanzen und uns selbst wieder ins Gleichgewicht zu bringen.

In Wien lebend, verstärkt sich ihre Sehnsucht nach ihren Wurzeln, eine Art Heimweh, das fern der Heimat immer wieder archaische Ansätze aufkeimen lässt. Besonders deutlich wurde dieser Ansatz in ihrer Arbeit „Cozze“, die sie im September 2024 als Land-Art-Projekt im Parco della Pace in Santa Croce della Battaglia/Laure Keyrouz Foundation präsentierte. Wie die Cozze/Muschel wurden auch die Flores verpflanzt. Cozze waren ursprünglich ein wichtiges Nahrungsmittel für die Ureinwohner an den Küsten des amerikanischen Kontinents. Durch die Kultivierung seit der Römerzeit in Europa und mit der Entwicklung des Menschen erlangte die Muschel den Status eines Luxus-Genussmittels oder wird als Reinigungsorganismus instrumentalisiert. Die Installation transportiert somit die gesamte Geschichte des Objekts und verleiht dem Kunstwerk eine wahrnehmbare Mehrdeutigkeit.

Die Künstlerin antizipiert stets den dringenden Wandel in unserem Denken und erforscht dieses Thema aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln. Sie stellt nie die Frage, warum die Menschheit an diesen Punkt gekommen ist und welche Faktoren dafür verantwortlich waren und sind. Das Wichtigste in ihrem Werk ist, dass es Hoffnung gibt und uns mit Freude erfüllt. Farben prägen ihren Stil und strahlen Wärme und Freude aus. Diese Ausstrahlung überträgt sich auf den Betrachter. Paula Flores schöpft ihre Farben aus der Natur, ihrer unergründlichen Vorlage: Pigmente werden mit Goldstaub oder Gewürzen kombiniert, mit Kupferfarben ergänzt, organische und anorganische Materialien drapieren sich über und unter den skulpturalen Arbeiten, schillernde Stoffe und Folien geben Tiefe, getrocknete Chilis und Kräuter erfüllen die Luft, Myzel wächst in Abgüssen wie lebende Skulpturen.

Der Geruch der Chilis erfüllte den Kunstraum München in ihrer Installation „Vicarious Tears“ anlässlich der Reiseausstellung „Trauma“ im Jahr 2021. Die Besucher mussten mit dem intensiven Geruch und der zu Tränen drängenden Luft zurechtkommen.
Bei der „Trauma“-Ausstellung in der Monolog Galerie in Belgrad verwendete sie in ihrer Installation „Salvia Blanca“ heilige Kräuter, wie weißen Salbei. Die Kombination von visueller Erscheinung und Duft ist eine wichtige Methode in ihrer Arbeit. Sie versucht, mehrere Sinne des Besuchers anzusprechen. Paula Flores bezieht alle Gefühle des Betrachters ein und verführt alle Sinne. Das Eintauchen in diese Welt, wie sie sein könnte, hat fast heilende Kräfte. Eine Verbindung zu Marina Abramovics Ansatz, den Kunstbegriff zu erweitern, ist offensichtlich.

Ihren performativen Ansatz demonstrierte die Künstlerin vor allem in ihrer Performance Serie „QUELITES“ 2019-2022. Paula Flores verbrachte Nächte unter einer Decke aus mexikanischer Schafwolle, die mit Samen bestreut war, und hörte buchstäblich zu, wie die Samen aufquollen und wuchsen. Sie beschreibt die Erfahrung unter dieser Decke als ein Gefühl von Geborgenheit und Einheit, ganz im Gegensatz zu den Fantasien der Zuschauer, die die Situation eher als kalt, nass oder eklig beschreiben.

Anlässlich ihrer Installation „Invision Jaguars“ 2024 in Meta Spatiu/ Timisoara în der Ausstellung „Avoiding Memories“ schrieb sie: „Das Leben selbst kann nie ganz weich und leicht sein für denjenigen, der es lebt und für die Leben, die miteinander verbunden sind. Das LEBEN kann nach menschlichen Maßstäben niemals gerecht und gleichmäßig verhältnismäßig sein, weder im Guten noch im Schlechten. Irgendwie beharren wir auf Kontrolle und Vorhersehbarkeit. Das LEBEN braucht Freiheit in seiner eigenen Definition.“

Ihre Installationen, Skulpturen und Gemälde sind Vorschläge, die sie zur Diskussion stellt, Einladungen, die Perspektive zu wechseln, Empathie zuzulassen, einschließlich einer Einladung, mehr zu erfahren.

Denise Parizek Website