Sergio Hidalgo Paredes,

Sergio Hidalgo Paredes, also known as SIXEART, better known as the artist SIXE PAREDES, was born in 1975 in Barcelona.

He began his artistic career in the world of graffiti at the end of the 1980s and it has been evolving and transforming. Always investigating and looking to take his art further, he began experimenting in the mid-90s with other artistic formats such as painting, sculpture, and installation.

This is how, at the end of the 90s, he settled into his own studio developing work that came to define him as a visual artist. In this studio, he developed an abstract universe of color equipped with shapes and symbols that show a very personal aesthetic, one that is instantly recognizable visually and has helped to shape his own unique identity and artistic originality. This evolution has led him to develop an abstraction that is based on a very diverse and intense palette of colors, with complex symbolism and a meticulous mastery of geometric forms, which sometimes includes numerical cryptography, referred to by the artist as “circuits” helping the viewer “connect” with another, deeper reality.

Meanwhile, since he started working in his studio, he has continued his artistic career outside of the studio combining both the public and the private, through artistic interventions in the street and constant work in his studio.

In the same way that in Sixe there is a confluence of artistic traditions, specifically Catalan, artists such as Antoni Tàpies and Joan Miró have been direct influences and he has, in turn, inherited their traditions. In addition, since approximately 2009 there have been many others who have helped move and shape the artist’s work.

As a result of his repeated contact with Peru, Sixe began to travel extensively through this country, immersing himself in its culture and working with local artisans whose ancient techniques in ceramics and looms are almost extinct. This contact fundamentally changed the discourse of his work, and he began to develop a style in which he merges these learned traditions with a contemporary perspective. This is how “Ancestral Futurism” as it is defined by Sixe himself, appeared – a tribute to the primitive cultures in the search for the essential, mixing past and present. This work contains both a metaphorical and reflective nature and arose from personal experiences, not through an attempt at imitation. Here the artist is trying to show other realities or ways of perceiving reality from a deep, mystical starting point. The mixture of these different styles and elements is what gives his work such a unique aesthetic.

This exploration goes beyond using animal forms, human representations or ancestral figures to create its own language and symbols to explore the primordial. The connection of these ancient traditions and his reflection and reinterpretation brings us closer to social processes that occurred in antiquity, and that are repeated nowadays because they are intrinsic to humanity – to the deepest and most universal essence of all human beings, in all times and places. Using his own abstract and pictorial language, Sixe reinvents the idea of ancestral connections. He perceives the experience of reality in a unique way, transforming it and in his works of art, turning it into something new and universal.

An artist whose work has become one of the most notable Spanish references in terms of urban art, Sixe’s work has been exhibited in galleries and art spaces around the world, as well as top-level institutions such as the British National Museum of Modern Art “Tate Modern“ located in central London. Sixe Paredes was one of six artists who painted the facade of the Tate Modern in 2008 in the innovative exhibition of wall paintings “Street Art“.

Despite his constant investigative work, he has never abandoned the activity that aroused his creativity, public art. There are numerous festivals, biennials and urban art projects, which feature the artist today.

Despite his constant investigative work, he has never abandoned the activity that aroused his creativity, public art. There are numerous festivals, biennials and urban art projects, which feature the artist today. No doubt, Sixe Paredes, is a visual artist and a master of urban art, who has managed to take the discussion from the street to a deeper more profound level. This Catalan artist, claimed in the five continents, continues traveling today with his work all over the world.

Work and style

While his early work focused more on the dark side of modern culture, this artist has recently developed an interest in ancient cultures and primitive art – especially in the way in which he can relate them to graffiti and Street Art.

His pictorial work is a mixture of figurative and abstract art. It mixes very different elements and aesthetics. It combines the human, the animal, the object, the geometric and the cybernetic with ample color, to later expand this series by combining and relating these characters with landscapes, pop art and pre-Columbian popular art with modern urban art and traditional ethnic art. He is an artist who uses his work in different mediums to create a universe of his own that is, at the same time, universal.

His is influenced by the urban landscape of his cosmopolitan city of birth, Barcelona, its architecture and popular social culture. There is also a strong influence of ancestral cultures, of cosmovisions especially from the Andean and Mesoamerican cultures, with their fluid colors, their wisdom and mysticism. In addition, nature is present in practically all of his work. A key part of the development of his artistic work has been his continuous trips around the world, especially those made to the American continent. Here he has shown deep concern for pre-Columbian cultures, which artistically has led to the use of millenary techniques such as ceramics or looms. These techniques have expanded his artistic language.

In works like his, it is interesting to see elements of the Inca cultures in relation to contemporary languages, and even more, to see how these cultures and their worldview permeate European identities. It establishes a connection between the ancestral precolonial and the contemporary European.

In the words of the artist himself:

“All cultures are connected by the most primitive essence that we carry in the deepest part of our being, and from their ancestral interconnection a new language is born, which only reaffirms all its greatness. My intention is to interpret these cultures in a new way and look at them from a different perspective, one based on respect and admiration. Today my work continues to be inspired by the ancient world but at the same time also in the present, comparing them and transmuting them in imaginary dualities, that exist between the past and the future.”

Text: June 2016
Laura García-Borreguero Gómez / Social and Cultural Anthropologist / SC Gallery Bilbao.

Exhibitions

Solo Show

2021
Naturaleza Continua. Delimbo Gallery – Sevilla, Spain.

2020
Círculo Sagrado. Rocio Santa Cruz Gallery – Barcelona, Spain.

2019
Círculo Sagrado. Centro de arte Tomas y Valiente – Madrid, Spain.

2018
Color, Forma y Materia. Le Feuvre&Roze Gallery – Paris, France.

2017
El Espíritu de la Montaña. Alice Gallery – Brussels, Belgium.
Antes, Después, Ahora. Morbo Gallery. Centro Cultural de España – Lima, Peru.
Naturaleza Abstracta. SC Gallery – Bilbao, Spain.

2016
Antes, Después, Ahora. Museo del Qorikancha. Comisariado por Morbo Gallery – Cuzco, Peru.
Un Mundo, dentro de otro Mundo. Roca Umbert Gallery – Granollers, Spain.

2015
Danza Ritual. Le Feuvre&Roze Gallery – Paris, France.

2014
Futurismo Ancestral. Approved by Pablo & Somerset House – London, UK.

2012
Cosmovisión Andina y los hijos del Inti. Casa América – Madrid, Spain.

2011
Cosmovisión Andina y los hijos del Inti. Gallery N2 – Barcelona, Spain.
Cosmovisión. Carmichael Gallery – Los Ángeles, EEUU.

2010
Nuevo Mundo, Transmutación Intercontinental. Alice Gallery – Brussels, Belgium.

2009
Sueñan las gallinas con ser humanas. Rojo Art Space – Sao Paulo, Brasil.
Guerreros. Gallery N3 – Madrid, Spain.
Batalla Perdida (Lost Battle). Alice Gallery – Brussels, Belgium.

2008
Street Art at The Tate Modern. TATE Modern – London, UK.
We Love People. Copenhagen, Denmark.

2007
Mutación animal. Alice Gallery – Brussels, Belgium.

2006
Niños Malos con Flequillo. Subacuática Gallery – Madrid, Spain.

2000
Niños Malos con Flequillo. Laboratorio 27 Gallery – Barcelona, Spain.

Group Show

2022
Reload. Group Show. Mima Museum. Collection. Brussels, Belgium.
Patrimonio de nuestra ciudad. Art centre,Tomas y Valiente. Collection museum. Madrid, Spain.
Relaciones publicas. Group Show. Cerquone Gallery. Caracas, Venezuela.
I don’t wanna be, I am. Group Show. Underdogs Gallery. Inkandmovement. Lisbon . Portugal.
I don’t wanna be, I am. Group Show. Coreyhelford Gallery. Inkandmovement. Los Angeles. United States.  
I don’t wanna be, I am. Group Show. Rexromae Gallery. Inkandmovement. Dubái, United Arab Emirates. 
The Strangest Collection. Group Show. Cerquone Gallery. Madrid, Spain.

2021
NOVELLA VISTA. Gana Art Center. Seul, Corea.
SeeYouAll. Alice Gallery. Bruselas, Bélgica.
I Don’t Wanna Be, I Am. Affenfaust Galerie Hamburgo.
E-exhibitions ARCO. Galeria Rocio Santa Cruz. Madrid, Spain.

2020
Arte Urbano…?. Centro de arte Tomas y Valiente – Madrid, Spain.

2019
Flash Back. Le Feuvre & Roze Gallery – Paris, France.
Technicolor. Zimmerling & Jungfleisch Gallery – Saarbrücken, Germany.

2018
RESISTANCE X. SC Gallery – Bilbao, Spain.

2017
Graff Méditerranée. Museum collection – Marseille, France.
Delimbo. Miau Festival – Madrid, Spain.

2016
Sixe Paredes, Sozyone y Honet. Gallery Golden Hands – Hamburgo, Germany.
Venturing Beyond. A(by)P Somerset House – London, UK.
Theriomorphism III. IAM Gallery – Madrid, Spain.
Itch Under the Skin. Charlotte Fogh Gallery – Copenhagen, Denmark.
Friends & Family Vol 2. Delimbo Gallery – Sevillle, Spain.

2015
Arqueología Prohibida. Villa Manuela Festival – Madrid, Spain.
Mapping the City. Somerset House – London, UK.
9000Km. Equipo Plástico. Casa Encendida – Madrid, Spain.
Bodegones & Vanitas. N2 Gallery. Barcelona, Spain.

2014
Lost In Space. Galería Alice Gallery & Aliceday – Brussels, Belgium.
On Paper. Galería SC Gallery – Bilbao, Spain.
Just Before Brazil. Alice Gallery – Brussels, Belgium.
Latin Explorations. Yves Laroche Gallery – Montreal, Canada.

2013
Paper Gaineko Lana. SC Gallery – Bilbao, Spain.
AD Infinitum. IAM Gallery – Madrid, Spain.
Roadtrip. Laboratorio Creativo “Domingo” – Lima, Peru.
BC Gallery & Carmichael gallery – Berlín, Germany.
Grandes formatos. N2 Gallery – Barcelona, Spain.
Cash, Cans & Candy. Galerie Ernst Hilger – Wien, Austria.
Paper Gaineko Lana. SC Gallery – Bilbao, Spain.
AD Infinitum. IAM Gallery – Madrid, Spain.
ARTSOLIDARI. – Barcelona, Spain.

2012
Mesa redonda. L’escala de l’evasió. Fundación Miró – Barcelona, Spain.
31st edition Arco fair – International Contemporary Art Fair. El País stand – Madrid, Spain.
A2 A3 A6 M30. Vava Gallery – Madrid, España.
Esto no es graffiti. Delimbo Gallery – Seville, Spain.

Grafica. Group show itinerante, Contemporanea & Instituto Cervantes:

Instituto Cervantes – Madrid, Spain.
Instituto Cervantes – Sofia, Bulgaria.
Centro de Historias – Zaragoza.
Mikser House e Instituto Cervantes – Belgrado.
Instituto Cervantes – Argel, Argelia.
Instituto Cervantes – Toulouse, France.

Caballo Caballo Tigre Tigre, Equipo plástico, Migas & Instituto Cervantes – Pekin, China.
El mur a lárt (Del muro al arte), group show curated by Kognitif. Sala de TMB – Barcelona, Spain.
Mascaras. Nano4814 & Sixe. SC Gallery – Bilbao, Spain.
Insiders. N2 Gallery & Kognitif – Barcelona, Spain.
ART PLATFORM. Carmichael Gallery – Los Angeles, EEUU.
Disambiguation. Carmichael Gallery – Los Angeles, EEUU.
BOUH, group show curated by Alice Gallery. Nosbaum Reding & Gallery – Luxembourg.

2011
Playing Field, group show with Banksy and Mark Jenkins. Carmichael Gallery – Los Angeles, EEUU.
Gráfika, traveling collective, Contemporánea and Instituto Cervantes – Lebanon, Portugal, Egypt, Jordan, France and Spain.
Drap’Art y CCCB. China y Tokio.

2010
Drap’Art con N2 Gallery y CCCB. – Barcelona, Spain.
Entre la silla y la madre – colectivo equipo plástico – Monterrey, Mexico.
Booke. Galería Carmichael Gallery – Los Ángeles, EEUU.
Liaisons. Centre d’Arts Santa Mònica representando a Galería N2 – Barcelona, España.

2009
Bac Festival. CCCB – Barcelona, España.
La cuadrada – Equipo Plastic group, Centro Cultural de España – Lima, Peru.
Forma y color. N2 Gallery – Barcelona, Spain.
Son jóvenes y maestros. N2 Gallery – Barcelona, Spain.

2008
Nomadaz, Mediterranean Art Connection, curated by Pablo Aravena, Scion Gallery – Los Angeles, EEUU.

2007
Art Loft. Los Ángeles, EEUU.
GRAFFITI ART. Sixe y Raul de Dios, N2 Gallery – Barcelona, Spain.
Delirium Tremens. Los Ángeles, EEUU.

2006
Sin intención. Cercle 22 Gallery – Barcelona, Spain.
Arte Urbano. Pabellón de Gutiérrez - Leon, Spain.
ROJO® SMART. Invaliden1 Gallery – Berlin, Germany.

2005
All work and no play makes jack a dull boy. La Santa Gallery – Barcelona, Spain.
Tras la pared. Antta Gallery – Madrid, Spain.
Street Art. Un arte evolucionado y en evolución, Fundación Artium – Alava, Spain.

2002
Kosmopolite. Galería Taxi Gallery Bagnolet – Paris, France.
Trompellier dos mil dos. Galería S.T.Ravi – Montpellier, France.

2001
La vida. Cercle 22 Gallery – Barcelona, Spain.
Sin intención. Cercle 22 Gallery – Barcelona, Spain.