Opening Reception: Saturday, February 5, 8-11pm
Merry Karnowsky Gallery is proud to present Rebels With a Cause, a solo exhibition by Chilean artist Victor Castillo. Castillo, who is known for pairing classical painting techniques with eerie images of children exercising the darker side of the id, makes visual references to Martha Cooper's photographs in his new body of work by showing the indomitable spirit of children creating adventure in an inhospitable urban environment. Castillo also references John Heartfield's photo montages parodying the Nazis rise to power in the 1930s; colorful vintage illustrations by Coré in popular Chilean children's books; the wild cinematographic scenes of school children in Pink Floyd's The Wall, and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.
The kids in Castillo’s exhibition play hard; they don't believe in much, laugh at decorum, and destroy what is given to them. The paintings in Rebels with a Cause are full of action, and among the artist’s continuous themes, they comment on social and religious indoctrination, and the loss of ideals in an amoral and material world. They play at dismantling everything. Castillo questions: Is it possible that there is a sustainable future with this crisis of values and insane consumption?
Castillo’s characters are often painted against rich black backgrounds, lit only by the flames below them, or by the dramatic light of ambiguous dusk/dawn baroque landscapes. Now living in the United States, Castillo’s influence and interest in American Pop Culture is evident, but his roots in South American culture still penetrates and marks the canvas. Peaked by the immensity of the cultural and visual dimension that the US propagates, a brighter palette in some pieces reflects the constant recycling of culture and gamma of options seen in advertising and commercial propaganda. However, grounding Castillo’s work to the past are also several paintings that give a nod to his origins as a painter. Lush, muted landscapes serve as vintage theatrical backgrounds for a more static by-gone era, with figures dressed in period clothing that contrast with the modern cultural references. The exhibition includes 25 new paintings in a range of sizes, as well as drawings on paper.
Castillo is originally from Santiago de Chile where he was a member of the art research collective Caja Negra. His work has shown in Spain, Germany, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, the United States, the U.K., Canada, Belgium, and Taiwan. He was also included in 2009’s Apocalypse Wow! Exhibition at MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, Italy. Castillo’s work has appeared in publications including Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose Magazines. He recently moved to Los Angeles after living in Barcelona for 6 years.
