09/22/21 - Today we will focus on the life story of Michael Richards, an artist born in the United States, of a Jamaican / Costa Rican family, who lived just 38 years: in 2001 he died in the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York. Despite his short life, he left behind a legacy of numerous jobs as well as a profound message about discrimination, which he must have suffered firsthand...

Michael Richards: Are You Down? @mocanomi

Fly Away O’Glory, by Michael Richards (1995)

Material: resin, bronze, feathers, motors

Winged, by Michael Richards (1999)

Material: bronze and metal

Michael Richards: Are You Down? @mocanomi

Although Richards intended to portray in these works the first black pilots in American military history and the complexity of their triumph despite discrimination, now that we know how his life ends, the works open up a world of references. Also included in these are the influence of religious traditions (the man in gold seems crucified), mysticism, popular culture and Greek mythology (the hands holding feathers in relation to the myth of Icarus). In short, the work has transcended him and also the meaning that we can associate with it.

The exhibition presents many other pieces, but these are the ones that give us goose bumps as soon as we enter the room.