Cardon, carmin y ola: Ximena Maldonado Sánchez at the Berner/Eliades Gallery
Ximena Maldonado Sánchez Returns to Athens with cardón, carmín y ola at Bernier/Eliades
Bernier/Eliades Gallery is delighted to present the second solo exhibition in Athens by rising Mexican artist Ximena Maldonado Sánchez. Titled cardón, carmín y ola, the show opens on Thursday, May 8, 2025, with the artist in attendance from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
With a practice rooted in sensory perception and a deep engagement with the natural world, Maldonado Sánchez’s work invites viewers into richly textured environments where human and ecological narratives intertwine. Her paintings are meditations on topography and transformation, drawing on the organic rhythms of plants, minerals, and landscapes. Through her distinctive interplay of abstraction and representation, she evokes both the physical and emotional terrains that shape our relationship with place.
At the heart of cardón, carmín y ola is a poetic dialogue between land and sea. Cardón, a cactus emblematic of arid Latin American deserts, stands as a symbol of resilience and rootedness. Carmín, the vivid red pigment, evokes both colour and emotional intensity. Ola, meaning wave, captures not only the undulating motion of the ocean but the fluidity of thought, memory, and emotion that courses through Maldonado Sánchez’s compositions. Together, these elements weave a visual lexicon that moves between the cacti and corals, the crimson deserts and deep blue waters that inspire her palette.
Water is a defining presence in her work — not only as subject matter, but as a shaping force. It carves silhouettes of mountains, informs vegetation, and flows through the contours of her painted landscapes. Her process is visceral and embodied, a choreography of gesture and pigment that transforms the canvas into an echo of lived, tactile experience.
A rising voice in contemporary painting, Maldonado Sánchez was born in Irapuato, Mexico in 1999 and currently lives and works in Brussels, where she completed her Master’s in Painting at ENSAV La Cambre. Her work has been shown internationally, including a previous solo exhibition at Bernier/Eliades and group exhibitions in Belgium and France. She has participated in residencies with Fondation Moonens and La Napoule Art Foundation, and was awarded the Laurent Moonens Prize in 2023. Her upcoming projects include exhibitions in Sicily and Finland.
This exhibition marks a compelling return to Athens for the artist — one that promises to immerse visitors in a world where colour, terrain, and gesture converge.
Find Maldonado Sanchez at the Berner/Eliades Gallery at 11 Eptachalkou Street | https://bernier-eliades.com/
