Arias went into exile with his family to Mexico City, in the wake of the military dictatorship in Chile, where he lived from 1975 to 1983. In 1994 he decided to abandon painting, changing his method to embroidery as a means for conceptual meditation, which is the position from which he finds fault with the imagery of identity and gender issues in post-colonial America.

Carlos Arias has exhibited in museums and galleries at a national and International level, amongst which the following stand out, Autorretratos en lo común (Common self-portraits) (Textile Museum of Oaxaca, 2014); El hombre al desnudo (Naked man) (National Museum of Art, 2014); Neomexicanismos (Neomexicanisms) (Museum of Modern Art, Mexico, 2011); IV Biennale of Praga (2009); La era de la discrepancia (The Era of Discrepancies) (National Autonomous University of Mexico, Museum of Latin American Art Buenos Aires, (MALBA) and the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, (2007-2008); Eco: arte contemporáneo mexicano (Echo: Mexican Contemporary Art) (Madrid, 2005);II Racconto del Filo (Italy, 2003); San Diego Museum of Art (2002); Museum BeeldenaanZee (Holland, 2002); ARS 01 Kiasma (Helsinki, Finland, 2001) and the First Biennale of Liverpool (England, 1999). El hilo de la vida, (The thread of life) a retrospective exhibition that represented more than two decades of work, was presented at the Capilla de Arte, in Puebla in 2015 and at the University Museum of Chopo, Mexico in 2016.