Like echo chambers of the self, Victoria Palacios weaves her own intimacy into her works alongside burlesque figures, creating animistic paintings. Nocturnal motifs, musical instruments and carnival elements all contribute to the hubbub that emanates from these atmospheres. With this new series of paintings, the artist presents a drama with a decadent spirit, in which these familiar figures are transformed into characters in a tragicomedy. Between the anticipation of the curtain rising and the chaos of the show’s finale, the clowns, spectres, musicians and instruments seem to awaken from a long slumber.

Lined with crimson curtains and criss-crossed with cobwebs, the works bear witness to a sense of obsolescence. Within these silken traps, the elements are captured. The fleeting handkerchiefs, caught in a whirlwind of sorrow, have ceased their fluttering. The chattering bagpipes, with their black swan-like appearance, remain silent. Widow and Shadow sit, motionless, awaiting the three knocks. On the edges of the paintings, medicinal bottles appear as a remedy for her, for us, and for these ghosts with tormented souls.

‘The paint on the wall is getting bored, tired, says the artist.’

In the exhibition space, she gives them a new role, much like a puppeteer or a ventriloquist.

One need only lift the veil on this sombre decorum to glimpse, on the Widow’s face, a red nose; above the piano, a puddle of revelry; on scraps of fabric, orgiastic scenes; and, in the background of a canvas, buildings intoxicated by jazz. Against the striking black-and-white checkerboard, the desire for a scene unfolds, one in which mimes and instruments, stepping out of the canvas, would bustle and sway.

And so, when the performance finally takes place, the painter, acting as a conductor, pushes these boundaries to the limit, to the point where one wonders who is performing for whom, and who the audience actually is.

Star of Bethlehem, Beech, Gorse: through this title, borrowed from the Bach Flower Remedies, the artist explores possible ways of healing and bringing comfort, as if in an epiphany.