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Surreal Swarm of 15,000 Paper Butterflies Invades a 19th-Century Building

By Kelly Richman-Abdou on June 23, 2019

Photo © Andrea Rossetti

For years, multidisciplinary artist Carlos Amorales has enchanted us with his striking series of black butterfly installations. Called Black Cloud, this ongoing project places swarms of paper butterflies in unexpected sites, including galleries, churches, and, most recently, an art foundation in Italy.

For his solo exhibition, The Accursed Hour, Amorales has filled the Fondazione Adolfo Pini with 15,000 fluttering insects. As they cling to ceilings and perch on walls, the butterflies transform the beautiful 19th-century building into a scene straight out of a dream.

Black Cloud‘s inspiration, however, is not entirely surreal. Through its emotive imagery, the large-scale installation “speaks to us of extremely current discrepancies and tensions throughout the world”—especially, as the foundation explains, in Mexico, Amorales' native country.

In addition to these symbolic paper creatures, The Accursed Hour also includes a collection of silhouettes from Life in the Folds, a series that explores and the existence of human violence. Along with an animated video, revealing storyboards, and other installed works, Black Cloud and Life in the Folds showcase Amorales' eclectic yet unified approach to his practice.

The Accursed Hour is currently on view at the Fondazione Adolfo Pini until July 8, 2019.