The Parade
2018
Oil on canvas
36.22 × 11.42 in (92 × 29 cm)
Status: Sold
Collection: Magical Realism
The Parade is a vivid and quietly unsettling allegory of public spectacle. At first glance, the scene radiates festivity—bright colors, ornate costumes, and flags rising under an immaculate sky. Yet beneath this theatrical surface emerges a subtle sense of division. On one side, elaborately adorned figures advance with ritualized pride; on the other, observers rendered in simpler tones watch from a distance, framed by the iconic Malecón Habanero, a place long familiar with grand displays.
The painting hints at the choreography of collective performance—the ways in which groups move in harmony or in tension, and how celebration can conceal unspoken contrasts. Rather than using magical realism to escape reality, Aurelio Milera uses it to illuminate it, transforming the parade into a meditation on spectacle, belonging, and the delicate balance between participation and observation.