Ester Chacón Ávila. Criaturas textiles

Madrid, Spain

Textile art and fiber sculpture connected to experimental craft practices of the 1970s and 1980s.

Ester Chacón Ávila

Image credit

Ester Chacón Ávila © Galería José de la Mano

Meet the artist

The Movement

Contemporary Art, Textile

ArtLovers Tip

These creatures may look fragile or playful at first — but the longer you spend with them, the stranger and more human they begin to feel.

Exhibition Highlights - What you’ll see

In Criaturas textiles, Ester Chacón Ávila transforms fabric, thread, and handcrafted materials into strange living forms.

The exhibition gathers works created between 1974 and 1988 — hybrid beings somewhere between animal, sculpture, object, and fantasy.

  • You’re watching:
  • Soft textile sculptures with organic and almost biological shapes
  • Handmade surfaces full of texture, stitching, and tactile detail
  • Creatures that feel playful, unsettling, and poetic at the same time
  • A forgotten artistic language positioned between craft and contemporary sculpture

The exhibition feels intimate, experimental, and surprisingly contemporary despite being decades old.

Worth the trip

Because exhibitions like this recover practices that were often excluded from the traditional art canon — especially textile and fiber-based work historically associated with craft rather than “fine art.”

Today, with the global resurgence of textile art and soft sculpture, Ester Chacón Ávila’s work feels unexpectedly current.

Galería José de la Mano continues doing something important in Madrid: rediscovering artists and movements that deserve to be seen again.

How to experience it

Move slowly around the works → many pieces feel almost alive in space

Pay attention to textures, seams, and handcrafted details

Think about the relationship between craft and sculpture

Allow yourself to experience the works emotionally before categorizing them intellectually

Madrid, Spain

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