J’évolue dans le monde des arts plastiques , de l’expression corporelle et dans le milieu alternatif parisien depuis très jeune . J’ai donc exploré diverses techniques et directions : peinture , photographie , dessin , graphisme , video , danse et travail sur le corps.
Depuis ces 15 dernières annnées , j’ai fait des expositions et performances en France et quelques collaborations qui m’on ouvert de nouveaux horizons. Il y a un moment ou j’ai glissé de la peinture et de la representation du corps à la mise en scène directe des corps et des ames à travers la photographie , le corps au sens large comme moyen d’expression.
Il m’est rapidement venu un questionnement sur mon propre érotisme face aux archetypes simplifiés et imposés par la société de consommation. Durant des siècles d’histoire de l’art , les femmes ont été enfermées dans le rôle de sujet de fantasme érotique , mais empechées dans l’expression de leur propre érotisme loin des attentes sociales , ce qui explique le fait que toute une génération actuelle parte dans cette direction à la suite des pionnières du siècle dernier.
Dans la jouissance esthétique et tactile de la matière , j’y trouve une relation au spirituel dans le monde des fantasmes qui ouvre une porte à la fois physique , énergetique , psychologique et mystique . La sensualité comme acte quasi religieux , la sensualité comme prière.
Mes influences profondes dans la démarche et l’esthétique sont clairement celle des suréalistes ( dont certains pionniers qui ont abordé l’érotisme du fétichisme ) Etant de la génération de1976 , j’ai été aussi très influencée par la vague rock punk goth newwave des années 80 et j’ai été jeune ado et jeune adulte dans les années 90 pendant l’emergeance des mouvements technos sauvages. Les attitudes des femmes de la scène rock comme Lydia Lunch par exemple ( parmis beaucoup d’autres ) ont clairement ouvert la porte à ma generation. C’est aussi dans ce monde rock notament gothique et new wave que j’ai decouvert très jeune mes tendances au fetichisme et aux mises en scène BDSM.
Dans la photographie , les artistes comme Robert Mapplethorpe me parlent beaucoup , le fait d’aborder des sujets parfois crus ou qui peuvent paraître provoquant mais dans un style presque academique pour un rendu raffiné , les photographies de sexe ou de fleur y sont representé avec la meme sensualité , ramenées au meme niveau.
En ce qui concerne la littérature , je citerai ‘ L’histoire de l’oeil ‘ de Georges Bataille , ‘incontournable ..Les oeuvres d’Henry Miller m’interessent beaucoup , j’y retrouve cette errance hedoniste , urbaine ou se melent sexualité et philosophie ‘ King kong théorie ‘ de Virginie Despentes est également un de mes livres de chevet , je le considère comme le livre de ma génération en ce qui les femmes et leur sexualité face à la société . Mon autre influence est bien évidement l’érotisme asiatique , en particulier japonais , les classiques comme ‘ L’empire des sens ‘ par exemple , le shibari ( le bondage japonais ) , le coté rituel et très martial dans la mise en scène de l’eros.
Son seres míticos… o espíritus vegetales y animales…que aparecen por el trance de tejer . Que son nuestros primeros textos.
Es bajar ese texto al cuerpo y activarlo en ceremonia Ese texto de plantas tiene una memoria ancestral
Que yo rescato hoy, por la necesidad de volver al rito, al mito y a generar saberes integrados para sanar
Si es así…mi quehacer es un trance espontáneo…según lo que voy tejiendo se arma el texto…
Si tejo una raíz me habla del inframundo. De mis densidades, oscuridades. De mis ancestros que nos sostienen y nos hacen pertenecer con identidad. Nuestras abuelas piedras nos enseñan a concretar
A cristaliza
Si tejo una rama, me conecta con supramundo, la luz , los seres alados, el aire, la espiral y el fruto , para dis frutar = sacar el fruto.. Es lo que me hace ser Pajararbol Al servicio de un oficio ancestral. Arte para lo social, arte en tribu
Francisco Ríos Araya (1971, Santiago)
With a background in journalism and art studies, Francisco has established a career known for participating in international sculptors’ gatherings. Clay, metal clay, wood, resin, and natural fibers are among the materials he integrates into his works.. Through his research, he investigates abstract elements that are connected to sensuality and the origins of life.
Francisco’s work revolves around exploring the representation of mythological beings present in diversified cultures. His reinterpretation of these concepts emphasizes their role as a conduit, linking the earthly with the celestial.
MY LITTLE SELK’NAM ARMY IS A PAINTING WITHOUT ANY RUSH AND THAT HAS BEEN CREATED OVER TIME, FORMING A VISUAL ASSEMBLY STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION MADE IN PRINCIPLE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORDS OF MARTÍN GUSINDE AND OTHER STYLE ARCHIVES , BUT WHICH THEN WAS INSTALLED WITH ITS OWN IMAGINARY. WITH THIS WORK I ALSO PAY A DEBT TO MY HISTORY AS A PAINTER, BODY PAINTING BEING ONE OF THE THEMES THAT HAS DIAGONALLY CROSSED ALL OF MY WORK.
“MY LITTLE SELKNAM ARMY”IT IS AN EXERCISE OF REPRESENTATION THROUGH PAINTING OF THIS RITUAL PATTERN OF FUEGIAN CREATION: AN AESTHETIC RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SUPERNATURAL AND A WAY OF UPDATING THE MYTH OF ORIGIN THROUGH A PROPOSAL FOR CONTEMPORARY CREATION THAT AT THE SAME TIME SEEKS TO RESIST FORGETTING.
-ASPECTS OF ETERNAL ADOLESCENCE-
A COUPLE OF NIGHTS AGO I LISTENED TO A SPECIALIST IN THEMES OF EMOTIONAL GROWTH -A SOCIOLOGIST I BELIEVE- TALK ABOUT THE BEHAVIOR OF MODERN ADOLESCENTS WITH REGARD TO THEIR INTEGRATION INTO THE ENVIRONMENT AND OTHER BEHAVIORS RELATED TO THEIR SOCIAL AND GROUP VALIDATION. QUITE KNOWLEDGEABLE ON THESE ISSUES, THE SOCIOLOGIST EXPLAINED CLEARLY REFERRING TO THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LOSS OF RITES OF PASSAGE IN CURRENT SOCIETIES, WHICH WOULD MEAN FOR THE ADOLESCENT GROUP TODAY, A STRONG DEFICIENCY IN THE SOCIAL AND PERSONAL AFFECTIVE FIELD, BY NOT HAVING NO CLEAR GENERATIONAL SIGN THAT CONFIRMS WHEN IS THAT EXACT MOMENT WHEN YOU STOP BEING A CHILD TO BECOME AN ADULT IN FULL MATURITY. THIS WOULD EXPLAIN THE SENSATION OF NOT BELONGING SOMETIMES MANIFESTED BY THE ADOLESCENT GROUP AND WOULD BE ADJUSTED IN SOME CASES,
THIS LACK OF SECURITY REGARDING THEIR PLACE IN THE WORLD WOULD AFFECT ADOLESCENTS IN ALMOST ALL CONTEMPORARY SOCIETIES AND WOULD BE EXTENDERED BY A SYSTEM THAT APPEARS TO IGNORE THE TRANSCENDENCE OF THESE GENERATIONAL ISSUES OR EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES OF VITAL IMPORTANCE, SUCH AS THOSE THAT THEY ANNOUNCE THE GREAT CHANGES IN THE HUMAN BEING.
TO ADOLESCENCE COMES FROM ADOLESCENCE, TIME OF AILMENTS AND CHANGES. LEAVING AWAY THE FIRST MENSTRUATION OR THE CASE OF SEXUAL INITIATION IN MEN, TRADITIONALLY MARKED BY THE LITTLE GIRL ON TURN THAT DAD CHOOSES, THERE ARE FEW OR NONE OF THE SPACES OF RITUAL TRUST THAT WE PRACTICE SERIOUSLY AS PARENTS AND SONS. IT IS PARADOXICAL THAT REACHING THE AGE OF MAJORITY IS TODAY, IN A COUNTRY THAT BOASTS OF PRIVILEGING FAMILY VALUES, TECHNICALLY NOTHING MORE THAN A MERE PROCEDURE, WHERE AT THE AGE OF 18 THE ADOLESCENT “AUTOMATICALLY” BEGINS TO CARRY A CIVIL RESPONSIBILITY THAT THEY MUST CULTIVATE . FAR FROM ANY CEREMONY, IT IS NOT CURIOUS THEN THAT FINALLY THERE ARE EVERY FEWER RITES THAT CALL US TO COME TOGETHER OPENLY, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF DEATH, WHEN IT IS ALREADY TOO LATE.
FOR ANCIENT CULTURES SUCH AS THE SELKNAM, ONE OF OUR ORIGINAL AUTRAL PEOPLES, THESE CEREMONIES OR RITES OF PASSAGE WERE VERY IMPORTANT, EVEN CAUSING GREAT GENDER WARS FOR POWER AND DOMINATION OF THESE FESTIVALS, WHERE THE HOUSE WAS THROWN DOWN -O EL TOLDO- THROUGH THE WINDOW TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THE KEY MOMENT THROUGH WHICH THEIR CELEBRATIONS PASSED FOR THE ONLY TIME IN LIFE.
THE HAIN CLEARLY EMERGES AS THAT SACRED CEREMONY THAT USED THEATER AND SURVIVAL REPRESENTATIONS TO TEST THE MEASURE OF THE INITIATES, PREPARING THEM FOR A PROCESS OF TRANSFORMATIONS WITHIN THE MILESTONE THAT WOULD MARK A NEW EVENT IN THE BEHAVIOR OF THE KLOKÉTEN NOVICE IN FRONT OF HIS TRIBE, WHO AT THAT MOMENT JOINTLY DECIDED THEIR PASS TO PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL MATURITY. A SACRED ACT WHICH WOULD GIVE THEIR LIVES BOTH STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE AND WHICH WOULD ALLOW THEM TO GENERATE THE TRUST WHICH THE INITIATED COULD LATER HAND ON FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE DEFINED WITH SUCH OPENNESS AND CLARITY, ALLOWED THE KLOKÉTEN TO BEGIN THE RITUAL PROCESS TO STOP BEING A CHILD AND THUS TAKE THE REINS OF ITS OWN MATURITY.
BEING AN ADULT, HOW COMPLICATED…. EVERYTHING WRITTEN IS BORN FROM ONE OF THE PICTURES OR “ FRAGMENTS”, WHICH I PAINTED YEARS AGO ON A TREE BARK (ABOVE IN THE PHOTO) AND WHERE THE SPIRIT OF HAIN MANIFESTS HOUSING IN THE PAINTED FIGURE OF AKLOKÉTEN . HERE IS REPRESENTED THE COMPLEX SYMBOLISM OF INITIAL OPPOSITION AND TRANSFORMATION BY WHICH THE KLOKÉTENHE WAS SUBJECTED INSIDE SECRET SOCIETIES THAT SEEKED TO TURN HIM INTO A MAN. THE FUSION OF A WORLD IN TRANSIT OR RITE OF PASSAGE IS INCORPORATED INTO THE PICTORICAL SIGN AND INTO THE HISTORY BROUGHT WITH IT BY THE SUPPORT, COLLECTED FOR THAT PURPOSE ON THE SLOPE OF THE VILLARRICA VOLCANO FROM THE CALCINATED REMAINS OF A CONIFER SPLIT BY LIGHTNING. JUST AS THE ANCIENTS DID TO MAKE THE RITUAL MASKS WHICH THEY USED IN THEIR CEREMONIES, I COLLECT THE BARK OF THE TREES TO PAINT THEM WITH PART OF THIS HISTORY THAT DISAPPEARS AND THAT ALSO BELONGS TO ME, BEING THE COLLECTION, A RITE THAT IS SIBLISHED TO THE PAINTING ALREADY THE TELLURIC TEXTURES OF THE EARTH, LIKE BROKEN FRAGMENTS FROM A NOT SO REMOTE PAST, AND IN WHICH WE STILL REFLECT OURSELVES.
-MY LITTLE SELK’NAM ARMY- I
THE VARIETY OF COSTUMES THAT THE SELK’NAM USED FOR THEIR PERFORMANCES DURING THE HAIN CEREMONY, THEY ARE BASED ON A CONCEPT OF CORPORALITY CREATED TO DELIVER THEIR IDEAS REGARDING RELIGIOUSNESS AND INFLUENCES TO WHICH THEY WERE SUBJECTED SINCE THEIR ORIGINS IN A DOMINANT MATRIARCHAL SOCIETY, IN WHICH THE BODY WAS THE MAIN COMMUNICATION INSTRUMENT OF MAN . THIS CONCEPT OF IMAGE, DESIGN AND MOVING COLORS ARE KEY ELEMENTS TO UNDERSTAND THE SYMBOLIC MESSAGE OF ITS CEREMONIES. IN THIS SECRET GAME, THE WORK OF THE SPIRITS WAS TO PUNISH HARDLY THOSE WHO OPPOSED THE ORDERS OF THE WOMEN.
THE PASSAGE OF TIME WOULD BE KNOWN AS THE UPDATING OF THE MYTH -ENDING THE FEMALE DOMINANCE IN CEREMONIES- THE REVEALED MEN FOUND A NEW HUT BUILT OF ROCK WITH SEVEN STONE POSTS DRAGGED FROM THEIR NATAL COUNTRIES. FIRST WACUS STARTED , THEN PAWUS AND AFTER SANU. THEY WERE STRONG AND TALL MEN. WHEN THE FIRST THREE PILLARS WERE WELL SECURED, HE BEGAN TO RAISE HIS SATE , THEN TALEN , THEN KEYAISK AND FINALLY YOISIK . EACH ONE OF THEM STOOD UNDER THE POST HE HAD RAISED, ASSUMING THE ROLE OF THE SEVEN SUPPORTSMAIN. THESE MEN ANCESTORS IN MYTHICAL TIMES WOULD BE TRANSFORMED AFTER THEIR DEATH IN DIFFERENT BEINGS OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, ACTING AS SIGNIFICANTS IN EACH EPISODE REPRESENTED IN THE RITUAL AND ESTABLISHING AN ORDER THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE THAT THEY WOULD HAVE MAINTAINED UNTIL HISTORICAL TIMES.
EACH ONE OF THE SEVEN REGIONS OF THE SELK’NAM TERRITORY HAD A SUPPORT ACCOMPANIED BY HIS XALPEN WIFE . XALPEN WAS A FEMALE SPIRIT OF GREAT POWER FEARED BY MEN AND WOMEN WHO LIVED UNDER THE EARTH AND CALLED ON MEN TO SATISFY THEIR LUSTFUL DESIRES. “IT IS ABOUT AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, IRRITABLE, CAPRICIOUSLY UNPREDICTABLE BEING, WHICH WITH GREAT PLEASURE CAUSES MEN THE MOST DIVERSE DISCOMFORT. She alternates them to satisfy her sexual desires with them, REGARDLESS THAT UNDERGROUND, THE INITIATES OF THE KLÓKETEN ARE PERMANENTLY AVAILABLE (…) SHE IS CONSIDERED A WOMAN OF GREAT PROCREATIVE POWER AND BECAUSE OF HER ARBITRARIOUSNESS, SHE IS HATED BY WOMEN WHO HOWEVER, THEY SHOULD MAKE AN EFFORT TO CALM IT OUT OF CONSIDERATIONS TOWARDS THEIR HUSBANDS AND CHILDREN” (M.GUSINDE 1990: 908)
EACH SUPPORT THEN WAS DECORATED WITH PAINTINGS AND DESIGNS DEFINED BY TRADITION. THEIR FIGURES AND MOVEMENTS WERE CONSIDERED BY THE SELK’NAM AS MAGNIFICENT AND BEAUTIFUL, ESPECIALLY AMONG WOMEN. SANUIT WAS THE SOORTE OF THE WEST . WITH A RED BODY AND ABUNDANT WHITE DOTS ORDERED SYMMETRICALLY THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE BODY, IT INDICATED THE SPIRIT’S BELONGING TO A SPECIFIC CARDINAL POINT THAT COULD BE EASILY INTERPRETED BY ALL BYSTANDERS THANKS TO THE PREDOMINANCE OF COLOR. ITS BODY ORNAMENTATION PRESENTED A DEFINED DESIGN PATTERN, WHICH SEEKED TO HIGHLIGHT A TALL, SLIM, STRONG AND AGILE FIGURE, SOMETIMES REPRESENTED BY MOVEMENTS SUCH AS FLIGHT: “SHOULDERS RAISED, ARMS FOLDED AND SLIGHTLY SEPARATED FROM THE BODY, AND HANDS CLOSED IN FISTS, THE “ACTOR” REPETITATIVELY LIFTS HIS FEET, MOVES HIS HEAD ENERGETICALLY, GIVES QUICK JUMPS, STOPS AFTER EACH ONE OF THEM AND THEN MAKES THE WHOLE BODY SHAKE” .
THE SEVEN MAIN SUPPORTS WERE SYMBOLICALLY RELATED TO THE “FOUR INVISIBLE MOUNTAINS OF INFINITY”, COMBINING A HIGH-LEVEL IDEOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION OF CONCEPTUAL AND AESTHETIC ABSTRACTION. SOORTE SANU CAME FROM THE WEST KÉNENIK MOUNTAIN RANGE, PLACE OF THE SUNSET OF THE SUN EXPRESSED BY THE ORIGIN OF RED AND THE TRAIL OF DEATH. REPRESENTING AN OWN CULTURAL IMAGINERY THROUGH THE PERFORMANCE OF THE RITE WAS FOR THE SELK’NAM A COMPLEX SHOW OF ANTHROPOMORPHOLIC BEINGS WHOSE MASKS AND ACTIONS REVEALED THEIR PERSONALITY, THUS HELPING TO ORDER AND UPDATE A SYMBOLIC-TERRITORIAL SPACE SUPPORTED BY ATTITUDES AND SOCIAL VALUES.
-MY LITTLE SELK’NAM ARMY- II
IN THE YEARS OF THE HAIN MYTH, THE YOUNGER AND INEXPERIENCED MEN OCCUPY INSIDE THE CEREMONIAL, THE SITE OF THE SECONDARY SUPPORTS; AGILE AND FAST BODIES PREPARED AND DECORATED FOR DANCE WITH COLORS ONLY PARTIALLY VISIBLE TO OTHERS, THUS SHOWING THEIR SURPRISING SPEED AND BODY ENERGY. ULEM IS ONE OF THEM. HE RELATED WITH THE OTHER SOORTES THROUGH THE THREE MAIN COLORS AND HIS FENSE FOR MOVEMENT:
“THE BODY IS DARK RED AND WHITE HORIZONTAL STRIPES ARE APPLIED TO IT, LEAVING SHORT INTERMEDIATE SECTIONS”…”VERTICALLY FROM THE NECK PASSING THROUGH THE NAVEL, LOWERS A WHITE LINE. THE ULEM MASK IS MADE OF COLORED BARK LIGHTER RED WITH THREE WHITE LINES ON THE TOP”.
THIS POINT – LINE – STRIP REITERATING WITHIN THE FIELDS OF BODY DRAWING, REFERS TO THE MYTH OF THE SAME CHARACTERS: MALE SPIRITS WITH IDEAL PHYSICAL QUALITIES FOR A HUNTER-GATHERER IN THE TIME OF THE SELK’NAM SOCIETY: AGILITY, STRENGTH, SPEED AND BEAUTY.
EACH SUPPORT HAD TOTAL CREATION AUTONOMY AND BY NOT REPRESENTING A DEFINED PATTERN IN ITS DESIGN, IT WAS POSSIBLE TO RECOGNIZE EACH OF THEM BY THEIR MASKS.
ALL FIGURES WITH GREAT MOBILITY, BLENDED INTO THE BLACK ANTARCTIC NIGHTS, TRYING TO REPRESENT THE MOVEMENTS OF SOME LOCAL ANIMAL BROUGHT INTO THE FIELD OF THE CEREMONY, WITHOUT FORGETTING THAT DESPITE THEY ENJOYED GREAT FREEDOM, EACH OF THE CHARACTERIZATIONS WAS SUBORDINATED TO A PREVIOUSLY ESTABLISHED SCRIPT INHERITED FROM PREVIOUS GENERATIONS.
THIS SIGN OF BELONGING GAVE SENSE TO THE CYCLE OF LIFE, AND EACH YOUNG INITIATE WHO UNDERTAKEN THE RITUAL UNDERSTANDED IT SO. ULEM IS PART OF SOME 100 FIGURES PAINTED ON COIGÜE PLATE THAT ARE INCLUDED IN THE POLYPTHYTHY MURAL “MY LITTLE SELKNAM ARMY” .
-MY LITTLE SELK’NAM ARMY- III
ACID LIKE A PAINTING COMPOSED OF SEVERAL PIECES THAT TOGETHER MAKE UP A MAJOR WORK, “MY LITTLE SELK’NAM ARMY” IS A POLYPTIC MURAL OF FIGURES IN OIL AND MIXED TECHNIQUES ON COIGUE AND MAÑÍO PLATES THAT I BEGAN TO PAINT IN 1998 AND WHICH I CONTINUE TO PAINTING UNTIL TODAY AS AN EXERCISE OF CREATION ON TRAVEL, CARRIED OUT DURING MY TEMPORARY TRANSIT THROUGH DIFFERENT PLACES IN CHILE SUCH AS THE ANDES MOUNTAINS, THE SOUTHERN CANALS, PATAGONIA OR THE ROUGH ARIDITY OF THE NORTHERN COASTS, TRAVELING ON SOLO EXPEDITIONS OVER THE DECK OF BOATS, BUS SEATS, LOANED CARS, MICROS OR PLANES; RESTING IN HOTELS, SHELTERS OR TENTS, WORKING AND WALKING IN WHICH ARE UP TO NOW 120 FIGURES OF BODY PAINTED IN A SIZE OF 16 X 10 CMS EACH AND WHICH FORM AS A WHOLE,
BODY PAINTING OF REAL AND INVENTED BEINGS, IMAGINED, TORN FROM THE BORDERS OF DEATH (AND OBLIVION) IN A FORMAT OF RITUAL REPRESENTATION THAT THE ANCIENTS KEPT UNTIL THE ARRIVAL OF THE WHITE MAN AS A CEREMONY OF PASSAGE FOR THE NEW GENERATIONS OF INITIATES.
THIS IS THE ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, MY TERRACOTTA ESCORT. A GUARD OF MOCETONES MADE OF MUD AND FUNERAL WOOD THAT STAND UP AMONG THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE LIKE A MASTER BEAM THAT SPEAKS TO US WITH THE SILENCE OF THE EXHUMEED BODIES, THAT ADVENTURE OF NAMELESS GRAVES, EMPTY BASINS AND TRACES MISSING LIKE RUBBLE BURIED AMONG THE branches.
THE PETROGLYPHS OF THE CHOAPA VALLEY- TWOIN THE PATH
THE REGION BETWEEN THE ILLAPEL AND CHOAPA RIVERS CORRESPONDS TO THE SOUTH/EAST EXTREME OF THE PROVINCE OF THE SAME NAME, IN THE IV REGION OF CHILE. IT IS ALSO THE SOUTHERN LIMIT OF THE NORTE CHICO, A GEOGRAPHICAL AND CLIMATE TRANSITION ZONE TO THE ABSOLUTE ARIDITY OF THE NORTE GRANDE.
CROSSED BY A LARGE NUMBER OF TRANSVERSE VALLEYS, THIS REGION IS THE NARROWEST IN CHILE -90 KM WIDTH FROM THE SEA TO THE CORDILLERA- WHICH MAKES IT A USUAL HUMAN TRACK SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL. FULL OF MOUNTAIN PASSES THAT CROSS THE ANDES AT VERY LOW ALTITUDE, IT HAS BEEN A PLACE OF PERMANENT MOVEMENT OF HUMAN POPULATIONS SINCE PRE-HISPANIC TIMES. UNTIL TODAY IT IS COMMON TO SEE MUTLEEERS WITH CARAVANS OF MULES TRAVELING THE BEAUTIFUL FOOTPRINT THAT WINDS DRAWING THE NARROW VALLEY THAT FOLLOWS THE COURSE OF THE ILLAPEL RIVER, OR THROUGH THE FERTILE CAUCE OF THE CHOAPA, WHICH OFFERS A GOOD AMOUNT OF NATURAL VIEWPOINTS FROM WHICH THE ANCIENT HAD A PERFECT PANORAMIC OF THE VALLEY.
FOLLOWING A BRANCH OF THE ROAD THAT LEADS TO THE CAVILOLÉN SLOPE, WE GO INTO AN AREA FULL OF FERTILE TRANSVERSAL VALLEYS INHABITED BY MAN FOR MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND YEARS.
PLACE OF ORIGIN OF STRONG POPULAR MYTHS, TODAY WE TRY TO TRAVEL THROUGH THESE ROADS, AS A WAY TO REMAKE PART OF THE ANCIENT TRACES OCCUPIED BY THE NOMADIC SHEPHERDS AND AS POSSIBLE TO DISCOVER THE MYSTERIOUS REASON THAT MOTIVATED THESE MEN TO MARK THEIR PASSAGE THROUGH THESE PLACES , THROUGH THE STONE INSCRIPTION OF ROCK ART.
WE LEAVE THE CITY OF ILLAPEL BEHIND, TO PASS THROUGH THE MYSTERIOUS SALAMANCA -NATIONAL CAPITAL OF IMBUNCHE- AND CONTINUE THROUGH THE COURSE OF THE CHOAPA RIVER TO ITS ORIGIN, SOMETHING SOUTHEAST OF CUNCUMEN, OUR FIRST STOP.
NIGHT FALLS SLOWLY OVER THE GENTLE SLOPS OF THE MOUNTAINS, FROM WHERE THE CACTI RISE LIKE ANCIENT LOOTCH-OUTS OUTLINED AGAINST THE FADING COLOR OF THE SKIES.
THE WIND SLOWS DOWN AND A STRONG SILENCE APPEARS SPEEDING UP FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE EARTH, WHILE WE INSTALL OUR TENTS AND DREAM THAT ON FULL MOON NIGHTS, WITCHES WILL FLY OUT TO THEIR COVENS WHILE POETS WILL WRITE WITH A BONE PUNCH IN THE ANCIENT LANGUAGE OF A BLACK GOAT.
THRESHOLDS
“THRESHOLD IS THAT BRIDGE THAT IS ESTABLISHED BETWEEN ONE PLACE AND ANOTHER, THAT (IN)VISIBLE PATH OR LIMIT THAT SEPARATES THEM, IS THE MINIMUM SIGN, SKIN, TEXTURE OR MATTER, FIRST STEP OR ENTRANCE FOR THINGS TO HAPPEN, OPEN DOOR IN FRONT OF THE THE ABYSS OF A NON-EXISTENT SPACE WHICH IS ALSO THE WORLD OF PAINTING, WHICH MOVES, WHICH MUTS, WHICH CHANGES, WHICH DISAPPEARES; THRESHOLD IS THE FRONTIER AND THE REVERSE OF THINGS, IT IS AT THE SAME TIME THE BEGINNING AND THE END, ORIGIN AND DESTINATION, ENTRY AND EXIT; THRESHOLD IS PAINTING AT THE SPEED OF A NERVOUS IMPULSE STIMULATING UNKNOWN SPACES, EXPLORING A NON-PLACE AND FINDING THE PERMANENT FACES OF ITS ABSENCE IN IT.”
“THRESHOLDS”,SERIES OF 15 PAINTINGS, TWO SHOWN, IN MIXED TECHNIQUE ON COUCHÉ PAPER, 40 X 40 CMS EACH, MADE BETWEEN MY WORKSHOPS OF “LAS ANIMAS” IN VALDIVIA AND “RIO ACONCAGUA” IN CONCON, ON THE EDGE OF THE XXI CENTURY.
born in Valparaíso in 1968. After living in Patagonia and in United States product of a scholarship, his first painting exhibitions were date back to the nineties in Valdivia. Later he moved to Santiago and the Fifth Region, where his visual and literary work materializes in a body of work that addresses different forms of expression, such as painting and drawing, experimental and documentary video, visual poetry and muralism, with public art projects installed in Santiago, Valparaíso. As a visual artist he has exhibited his paintings in 15 solo shows and in more than 60 group shows in Chile, Europe and the United States, and his poetic texts have been published in regional, national and international poetry collections, his work being awarded in different state funds for artistic creation such as Fondart, Cntv, Fondo Carnavales Cultural Centers of Valparaíso, among others. Currently the painter lives and works between Valparaíso, Santiago and Concón, where he develops his artistic projects and teacher training, being in charge of university graduates, painting and mural workshops, becoming a teacher for generations of students and artists who have worked with him.
I believe that I died when I was a child. Or perhaps a part of me died and something different was brought back. After that, things were not the same for me. I had several more brushes with death and suffering moving forward. These experiences shaped who I would become. They taught me about the uncertainty and duality of life and also brought me to a fierce inward state of being.
Decisive Action
I grew up in a world of adults. I was told that children were to be seen and not heard. I was given long stretches of time to play on my own. I turned to art and creative pursuits as a way to escape into the worlds I preferred to create. I built elaborate doll houses and loved magical wilderness spaces. I was inspired by the world of Fae that Brain Froud so beautifully captured. I was fortunate that my mother took me to art museums where I fell in love immediately with the language of art.
Transform
I believe that art has the power to heal, inspire and awaken; it has saved my life more times than I can count. As an adult, I have been lucky to keep my curiosity and magic alive. I pride myself on growth and becoming more and more who I prefer to be. I have now trained for over a decade in mystic and spiritual disciplines with the mission to inspire the world with my connection to what I call the Muse.
Allies
When I paint, I am moved by intuitive Muse forces from moment-to-moment, making marks with a variety of implements from my hands to brushes and handmade tools. I create from an empty meditative space, not knowing what will come out. There’s a huge amount of surrendering as I have to allow things to be as they are. Ugly or beautiful… I have to release all judgement. It’s one of the hardest things I do. It feels very vulnerable for me to allow “what is” when people are watching. And that is part of my work.
Glamour
What comes next often depends on the energy in a place, or time, or the viewers themselves who I feel pull the work through me. Over a period of 6-12 hours, sharp images, texts, and shapes are revealed as profound messages. Through abstraction, the art becomes the Oracle and represents the literal and metaphorical power of transformation. My art is in a constant state of service.
I Surrender All
The method I use requires a forgiving material like acrylic paint that permits rapid revisions. I think of my work as evolving in the moment.
Weight of Heart
Some parts gets covered up and pushed back and others change and are pulled forward. The pieces tell their own narrative as they become deeper with layers and more defined. I work on large 6 foot x 4 foot pieces of birch and frequently layer with colored pencil, watercolors, oil pastels, pouring paint, acrylic ink, China marker and more.
Gallery
When the pieces are ready we work hard to meticulously scan them at high resolution and make them into Oracle cards. I have always believed that these images are for others and sharing them is important as meaning makers for others. I release new each series of cards as they become available. Currently series 1 + 2 are available and I am painting pieces that will become Series 3 + 4 now.
Oracle Cards
I have performed this oracle painting performance every week at festivals, clubs and events, and online for the past 6 years. I believe the true magic is that these pieces are not only for viewing but can also be experienced. I invite you to journey with me as I discover the messages the Divine Muse will uncover next!
Despite the different routes I chose to go exploring alone, I am grateful to the invites that were extended yesterday by individuals who, like me, make their own meaning out of the marked holidays.
I know of so many others like us who are increasingly becoming more comfortable with revising or creating the things they need to create to exist with within and outside of time on their own terms. Funny story, I encountered others who were thieving a whole day to themselves and they asked me to give them a tour because they felt safer exploring the rest of the complex. I always wanted to be a tour guide for the abandoned.
Shanta Lee is a writer of poetry, creative nonfiction, journalism, a visual artist and public intellectual actively participating in the cultural discourse with work that has been widely featured. Her current multimedia exhibition, Dark Goddess: An Exploration of the Sacred Feminine, which features her short film, interviews, and photography, and other items is currently on view at University of Vermont’s Fleming Museum of Art from now until Spring 2023. To learn more about her work, visit: Shantalee.com
The ugliest thing I’ve seen is a video of a dog being cooked alive and a picture of a cat being skinned alive. Both were on Facebook. I’ll never forgive whoever posted them. Dogs are my friends. The scarcest thing that has ever happened to me was my grandfather chasing us around a dark house wearing a caveman mask when we were little kids.
from High School Year Book
I enjoy muddy colors, the colors the Old Masters used. I just like the warmth and earthiness of them. I use whatever color seems appropriate to me based on what I know about color and how I want the paintings to look.
Art is magick. I don’t think it influences my artwork any differently now that I practice. It’s more like I am aware that it’s basically the same process.
What is Ego Death? The show started with a title, “Ego Death”, and then I built a show around that. The term is pretty misunderstood. In a nutshell It refers to temporarily losing your sense of identity, usually from psychedelics which is a legitimate mystical experience.
There are too many contemporary artists I like. You can look at the Dark Art Society podcast since the majority of the artists I have interviewed I am a fan of. The only new band I can think of that I like is Invasives.
Born on November 12th, 1967, in the harbor town of San Pedro, CA, Chet Zar’s interest in art began at an early age. His parents were always very supportive and never put any limits on his creativity. His entire childhood was spent drawing, sculpting and painting.
Zar’s interest in the darker side of art began in the earliest stages of his life. A natural fascination with all things strange fostered within himself a deep connection to horror movies and dark imagery. He could relate to the feelings of fear, anxiety and isolation that they conveyed. These are themes which had permeated most of his childhood drawings and paintings and are reflected in his work to this day.
The combined interest in horror films and art eventually culminated into a career as a special effects make up artist, designer and sculptor for the motion picture industry, designing and creating creatures and make up effects effects for such films as, “The Ring”, “Hellboy I & II”, “Planet of the Apes” and the critically acclaimed music videos for the art metal band Tool. Zar also embraced the digital side of special effects as well, utitlizing the computer to translate his dark vision with 3D animation for Tool’s live shows and subsequently releasing many of them on his own DVD of dark 3D animation, “Disturb the Normal”.
But the many years spent dealing with all of the politics and artistic compromises of the film industry left Zar feeling creatively stagnant. At the beginning of 2000 (at the suggestion of horror author Clive Barker), he decided to go back to his roots and focus on his own original works and try his hand at fine art, specifically painting in oils. The result has been a renewed sense of purpose, artistic freedom and a clarity of vision that is evident in his darkly surreal (and often darkly humorous) paintings.
His artistic influences include painter James Zar (stepfather and artistic mentor), Beksinski, H.R. Giger, Frank Frazetta, M.C. Escher, Bosch, John Singer Sargent and Norman Rockwell just to name a few.
“Chet’s art is beautiful & scary. His style has a modern twist crashing into a classical approach. I think Chet is a master painter on his way to making a great mark in our little world. Wanna do something smart with your money? Invest in a Chet Zar painting.” – Adam Jones (TOOL)
I knew I was an artist when I realized that art was therapy for me. When I’m not painting I’m sad and angry. It has become a daily need to survive like… eat. Creation is for me a “vital outlet”, that is to say that I have to vomit the darkness that there is at the bottom of my guts so as not to sink while continuing to live with the people I love. It took me a long time to accept who I was. Today it is obvious. I eat, I shit, I paint and I sleep. I think that’s what being an artist is.
I have a lot of trouble communicating with others. I internalize everything so at some point it has TO EXPLODE ON THE CANVAS. To create, I draw inspiration from my own emotions and feelings that I can’t understand. Through the representation of the human body, I try to communicate these emotions. That’s why my paintings are very visceral: I have to dig into human bodies to see what’s inside.
You can then see in my paintings themes like identity, violence and love passion. Sometimes the spectators see monsters in my paintings but in my opinion, it is more about monstrous humans. It’s important to specify because it’s very different and it says a lot about the world in which we live.
I like to expand my pictorial universe on other supports. For a few years I have been sewing masks and costumes, and I have been doing performances. It’s as if my creatures in my paintings come out and become alive.
Cecily Brown is one of the artists I admire because she manages to find this balance between figuration and abstraction. In his work I see human bodies in motion but maybe my neighbor will see something else. I wish I could play with the viewer as well as she does. I love the idea of being able to inspire multiple stories through a single image.
I still don’t know if I’m an artist. I have always considered that calling oneself an artist is something pretentious. It is true that I create new things from an intellectual and also a subconscious act, but I feel more comfortable when I think I am creative. On the other hand, I have not studied Fine Arts and this fact makes me think that I am an outsider. However, I don’t care about everything because I’ve been painting since I was a child and I will always continue to do so. Painting has allowed me to pay rent and eat, other times it has not been like that. If I defined myself as an artist, would I change anything?
Above all, nature inspires me. I can paint something like a portrait of a person, but it will never be quite so. The animals, the plants, the mountains, the rivers, the universe, the water, the rain, all the elements and the stones, also the cells, scales, wings, spores. All of this is always present because it is Nature and I feel that humanity ceased to be a part of it a long time ago. That is why I try to bring these two worlds closer together through painting and dreams. It is like imagining a hopeful future for the planet, even though it is not actually possible.
I am not a tarot expert. I have many different decks, even an oracle of my own creation. My intention is to edit a deck of Major Arcana as soon as possible, it is a project that is taking me a long time precisely because I understand the tarot in my own way. And I think there is no universal way to understand it, so the fact that I am not an expert in tarot would not be a big problem because I would know my own tarot perfectly.
I think it is a language in itself, another kind of language. But I also believe that its divinatory character is a construction. When Visconti decks appeared in fifteenth-century Italy, their intention was not to guess but to memorize the hierarchies and their functions. Divination as such is much older. The current tarot brings together many characteristics of memoizable hierarchical archetypes that we now identify as tools for self-knowledge. I believe that the tarot can help us to know the things that we don’t know that we already know. It is like walking at night along a path full of brambles but illuminated by the soft glow of the full moon
I started a dream journal and loved the experience but didn’t have enough consistency to stick with it. I would love to be able to take it up again but I need a suitable environment and environment that I don’t have right now. I remember dreams from decades ago and from time to time they come back to my mind and give me the same sensations as at the time of the dream. Other times my dreams return to places I have already dreamed of, as if they wanted to finish telling stories. Somehow I keep in my memory the most relevant dreams, their sensations and what they brought me throughout my life. On the theories of dreams and their materialization in daily routines and in life, I would like to recommend the literary work of Julio Monteverde.
I try to make my relationship with the subconscious conscious when I’m awake. Creations are born from that place and we must remain attentive to their movements. For me it is like a call at any time of day or night that reveals other realities to me. Sometimes I know how to take advantage of that call and transform it into what you can understand as art. Other times it is too blinding a light that has the power to paralyze me and shows me through its light a deep and infinite darkness. It is what you can understand by anxiety.
Nature is the biggest influence I have. There are also some people and artistic movements in those influences, either because of the color in their works, because of the absence of color, because of their way of describing heaven and hell. There are too many but these are a very small sample of what I mean: Chagall, Redon, Remedios Varo, William Blake, Teresa de Ávila, El Greco, Goya, Diane Arbus, baroque music.
I’ve been under another the name Jupiter for quite a few years. This month (September 2022) I have started a new cycle that has been brewing since spring. I would like to get more light on the road and be able to keep my feet on the ground, something that has never happened in my life.
Alto Giove è tua grazia è tuo vanto il gran dono di vita immortale che il tuo Cenno sovrano mi fà Ma il rendermi poi quella già sospirata tanto Diva amorose e bella è un dono senza uguale come la tua beltà
High Jupiter it is your grace it is your pride the great gift of immortal life that your sovereign nod makes me But then making me that one already longed for so much Loving and beautiful diva it is a gift without equal like your beauty
For this reason, through Jupiter and almost by way of a “sigilo”, I intend to attract another way of seeing things without leaving aside my causality and gloom. I could have chosen Saturn and it really is what I wanted but we already know how Saturn treats already melancholic souls. I can’t afford that. Jupiter, as in the piece that Nicola Porpora (Alto Giove) composed to be performed by Farinelli, was a haven of peace in the stormy world of Felipe V. Leaving aside the stupid monarchy, Diana was a lunar goddess, daughter of Jupiter. In an astrological sense, Jupiter is associated with positive concepts such as abundance and optimism. And finally, I often say that “I live on Jupiter”, referring to the fact that I live in the clouds, that I am not attentive to reality and that I am a dreamer.
Lechuza is one of my music bands. We have started this summer of 2022 and we have just published our Demo. We are two friends making music, working with our hands on record packaging and trying to make nice videos of our songs. We are called Fantasmita and Ruda. Proceeds from sales go to an animal shelter. All the information is on our Bandcamp, and of course the music.
written by Diana Calabaza de Júpiter
Diana de Júpiter artistic training is intuitive and self taught. She prefers not to rely on any institution to interfere with her experience. Her themes hang between the dark and silent. She has worked for several Spanish publishers such as Aurora Dorada and La Felguera. Diana has had solo and group exhibitions in Spain, Mexico and the United States. She is currently preparing a complete tarot deck while painting daily.
Mitchell Pluto 