December 10, 2009 until December 23, 2009 // Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art // W. Hollywood, CA // Curated by Pablo Aravena
For the first time in North America, Chile Estyle will showcase work from a comprehensive selection of the top tier of Chile’s contemporary urban muralists.
From the end of the Pinochet dictatorship in the early 90’s until now, Chilean street art has literally exploded into a highly developed style, bearing strong influences from Mexican muralism, 60s – 70s political mural brigades, wildstyle graffiti and Brazilian graffiti and pixação (a unique stylistic cross-pollination with street art from Sao Paulo in the mid-90s). These influences, paired with Chile’s distinct history of propaganda art and muralism dating from the 40s, give rise to the myriad of strongly developed personal visual languages and artistic self-expression seen on the streets of Santiago, Valparaiso and other cities in Chile.The Chile Estyle featured artists, Cekis, Inti, Horate, La Robot de Madera and the duos Aislap and Agotok, are representative of the first and second generation of artists that started working on the streets in the Post-Pinochet era. The exhibition will consist of new works on canvas as well as site-specific individual and group mural installations in the gallery.
Cekis, one of Latin America’s pioneering figures in graffiti and a seminal voice in Chile’s graffiti scene takes his inspirations from Latin American muralism and themes. His skill for figuration calls to mind the work of artists such as Botero and Diego Rivera, with a unique dimension added by his potent cultural interchange with Brazilian artists in the mid 90s. Murals by Cekis can be found in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Valparaiso, Seville, Zurich and Hamburg, but it wasn't until he established himself in New York in 2004 that his work began to transform in concept, size and medium. It was here that he re-discovered his Latin American heritage and its graphic roots, allowing his themes to become more social and less personal. To date, he has had exhibitions at The Rotunda Gallery, Ad Hoc Art and The Aurora in New York and has participated in mural projects in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Baltimore.
Horate, another old school street artist with a background in stencils and graffiti now brings us a highly developed painterly style which explores themes of nature, animals and abstractions. While he works mainly in Santiago and Valparaiso, Horate for this show draws upon his experiences as a national park attendant in the famous Torres del Paine national park, creating a rich, Patagonia-inspired body of work.
Inti, hailing from Viña del Mar and working mainly in Valparaiso, works with a unique spectral albino iconography, which he combines with symbols and icons from pre-Colombian cultures to create sophisticated, near-abstract figurative work. He has exhibited and worked in Chile, Norway, Sweden and France.
La Robot de Madera from Quillota is a member of the second wave of artists to paint on the streets of Chile in the contemporary style. He has a distinctly personal figurative language, painting only human forms with text and abstract backgrounds reminiscent of the work of Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and the political mural group Brigada Ramona Parra. He works mainly in Valparaiso and other towns in the V region of Chile.
Aislap are an internationally recognized duo from Santa Rosa in Santiago. This neighborhood has produced many of today’s leading Chilean street and graffiti artists. Aislap’s murals and canvas work are enhanced by their background in traditional graffiti; they have been present on the streets of Santiago since 1996. Known for colorful work which contrasts strong characters with symmetrical abstractions, they have been featured internationally in books and magazines and most recently participated in the TAG exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Agotok are a self-taught duo inspired by graffiti and the mural work of the Brigada Ramona Parra. Like Aislap, this collective comes from Santa Rosa. By incorporating Chilean folk and popular cultures with social and political themes, they create artwork firmly rooted in common people and their everyday lives.
This important exhibition showcases a very Chilean visual fabric that will dazzle and offer an insight into a powerhouse of South American street art. The selection is based on strong individual styles which, when grouped together, offer a perspective of the themes, styles and cultural flavor present in the contemporary Chilean street art scene.
Pablo Aravena: Curator
Chile Estyle exhibition.
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