Childhood is a magical time; perceptions are authentic, feelings more intense. Throughout history many artists have mined this theme. Some, like the authors of Peter Pan or The Little Prince, created universal stories that have remained popular for over one hundred years. These stories share the idea that children are more open to experience than the adults who surround them.
Manuel Flores, a Mexican painter known by the name Mafloku, has taken up childhood as his theme. He demonstrates that he is still able to see the world through the eyes of a child. In a series of arresting paintings he has created fairytales in color.
And just as fairytales from the land of Grimm gave us the purest and simplest expression of our unconscious, so do Mafloku’s paintings offer us clues into our collective psyche.
Painted in watercolor, at first his scenes appear light-hearted. A closer look reveals a darker timbre.
Mafloku says, “I would define my paintings as postcards from the imagination, they´re the voice of quite a few thoughts that I think haunt us all, but only some give outlet to.”
Sometimes his scenes seem innocent, as when a little girl wearing a mask crouches on the ground next to a first-aid kit.
Another painting takes his ideas into darker territory, as in the image of another masked girl who holds the controls to a detonator of a bundle of TNT.
Like real fairytales, Mafloku’s images ignite long forgotten and primal memories.
According to Mafloku, ”The only thing I do is let the ghosts we all have inside speak in color.”
His images resonate because they reveal something about the innocence and violence of childhood, a period of life that lurks under the surface for all of us
The surprising thing about Mafloku’s trajectory is that he has come to painting only recently. In just two short years his paintings have gained popularity throughout Mexico
As for the reaction to his work, Mafloku says, “What makes me the happiest of all is that it detonates something in the viewers and owners of the pieces. This is what it is aimed to say and represent, those things you may feel either consciously or subconsciously but can’t quite put a finger on it, and unknowingly you might even share with those around you.”Explore Mafloku paintings here and become part of that community of admirers.