Alejandro Aguilar Canela builds a practice around difficult feelings, treating them as material as tangible as paper and vellum. The Austin, Texas-based artist focuses on drawing, largely with graphite and fine line mechanical pencil, and embraces smudges and unplanned marks as part of the work. As he puts it, “There is another side to our own darkness, one that can reveal new perspectives and accelerate personal transformation… It’s more about not discarding what might be considered unwanted, but instead finding some use for it.”<\/p>\n
Canela’s subjects stem from depression, anger, abandonment, fear, individuality, sexuality, and more, and he often gives these inner states human-like form. His compositions vary in scale, with many spanning two to four feet wide on traditional paper and vellum, and he occasionally ventures into sculpture. Recent drawings underscore his sensitivity to surface and touch, from the crisp lines of mechanical pencil to the soft haze of graphite that catches every gesture.<\/p>\n
Several of Canela’s works are included in this year’s Critic’s Choice exhibition at Ki Smith Gallery in New York, which is on view through September 6. Installation views of the exhibition are credited to Roman Dean. In the drawings on view and beyond, the artist’s approach turns “mistakes” into structure: errant graphite, fingerprints, and faint erasures become part of a language that acknowledges hardship while searching for what might come after it.<\/p>\n
By giving form to darkness without polishing it away, Canela invites a slower look at emotions many prefer to avoid. The result is not resolution so much as recognition—a body of graphite works that stays with the viewer, like a shadow that proves itself useful in unexpected light.<\/p>\n