In the exhibition of drawings titled Blind Traces, Manuel Olias utilizes a technique he developed to create delicate works that are influenced by chance. Using keys, fingernails, currency, or a simple tool such as a nail fastened to a pen that produces two parallel lines, the artist etches upon carbon paper onto the surface of the work – pressing, scratching and tracing without seeing the result.

Influenced by his education in engraving, Olias gives preference to the simple mark. Drawing indirectly invites uncertainty and thus invokes subliminal forms that he cannot see while they arise. The work is “an attempt to control the chaos without the vigilant attendance of the eyes and with random results,” in which the clean outline and the dirt coexist.