Xavier Robles de Medina
Metropolis. Directed by Fritz Lang, UFA, 1927, 2022

The figurative paintings of Xavier Robles de Medina always begin from the image. Taken from an extensive personal archive, the moments chosen are emblematic in our political and cultural memory or, alternatively, deeply personal private moments. In his work Metropolis directed by Fritz Lang 1927, UFA (2022), robot Maria towers above us on her seven-headed throne. The scene is one of the most memorable from the film – in the gentlemen’s club, a rich pastiche of cliches and exotic symbolism reference the machine’s unleashing of social chaos on society.

Robles de Medina’s fascination with painting is present in his diligent application of pigment to create simulacrum. The surface of the painting is textured with evenly-spaced yet voluminous strokes of the brush that are divisible into unique individualities. It is in these breaks of the image that are also its base and composition that the surface reveals the fabrication of its content.