Isaac Contreras. The Creeps

The Creeps, installation view at HEAD, Geneva, 2017

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The Creeps, installation view at HEAD, Geneva, 2017

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The Creeps (detail), 2017
hand molded plastic, glue and artist’s hair, 17 x 6,5 x 7,5 cm

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The Creeps, installation view at HEAD, Geneva, 2017

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The Creeps, 2017
hand molded plastic, glue and artist’s hair
left:  6,5 x 6,5 x 7,5 cm, right: 18 x 10,5 x 11 cm

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Settings, 2017
ink on photographic print, 20 x 11,3 cm

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The Creeps (detail), 2017
hand molded plastic, glue and artist’s hair, 14,5 x 11,5 x 10,5 cm

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The Creeps, 2017
hand molded plastic, glue and artist’s hair
left:  9 x 10,5 x 11 cm, right: 7,5 x 6 x 7,5 cm

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Unbecoming you, 2017
ink on photographic print, 42,5 x 30 cm

all images courtesy ISAAC CONTRERAS
photos: IC Studio

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When arriving in Switzerland in 2014, ISAAC CONTRERAS decided to let grow his hair. Three years later, in February 2017 during the snow moon, he cut it all off marking an end to a long-term performative process.

The process was punctuated by unannounced actions when I opened my hair, most notably in social gatherings or art openings. I was trying to produce this act as an event and frequently I played excessively with my hair whenever was a camera to try to “catch” a picture. To look for images, I sent an email to people I met during this time. Friends and co-workers that somehow were there while this thing was happening. Since this long term action was naturally happening in a myriad of places, the images are really diverse and far from a normative neutral white background. – as told by ISAAC CONTRERAS for we find wildness

His hair, collected in February, have been turned into a series of miniature sculptures that has been presented at his graduation exhibition at the University of Art and Design of Geneva. The sculptures which look like tiny hairdo helmets, were complemented by portraits of the artist with various hairstyles.

This body of work entitled The Creeps challenges the notion of ‘being’.  ISAAC CONTRERAS captured a moment in time and then removed himself from that moment. That is to say that after he cut off his hair, CONTRERAS was no longer a part of the moment but a member of the audience. A public that is now beseting with the question: What does it mean to ‘be present’ or to ‘be there’?

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