Artist: Enrique Chagoya

Detail and video of “The Enlightened Savage’s Guide to Economic Theory” (2010) Acrylic, water based oils, decals, collage, solvent transfers and pencil on handmade amate paper
15 1/2 x 109 in.

Now at the George Adams Gallery “30 Years: Frumkin/Adams”  from November 9 – December 22, 2018 http://www.georgeadamsgallery.com/

If you’re serious about collage or work inspired by collage, this gem of a find will leave you captivated. Enrique Chagoya presents a piece pregnant with meaning.

As he describes it, his work represents a “conceptual fusion of opposite cultural realities.” Chagoya combines images from pre-Columbian mythology, western religious iconography, and American popular culture to create pieces of art which are satirical and often critical of Western colonialism and artistic appropriation.

As a young artist, Chagoya noticed that Western cultures often “fed off of the creative output of their less powerful conquests,” a process he calls “utopian cannibalism.” Western artists have a history of appropriating images from the cultures they have politically subjugated; consider, as one famous example, Picasso’s appropriation of African sculptural and mask formats in “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.” To critique this process, Chagoya reverses it and “cannibalizes the cannibalizer,” incorporating iconic Western images into traditional South American formats, like this codice. Through this process, he hopes to “flip historic imagery and relationships between historic figures to such an extent that we can no longer tell who ‘the other’ is.” Chagoya’s works are frequently humorous – they often incorporate cartoons and bawdy scenes – but this humor is underpinned by a thoughtful and serious challenge to Western viewers about the implications of Western appropriation. – From “Enrique Chagoya: Flipping Europe On Its Head.”

If you’re serious about collage or work inspired by collage, this gem of a find will leave you captivated. Enrique Chagoya presents a piece pregnant with meaning.

As he describes it, his work represents a “conceptual fusion of opposite cultural realities.” Chagoya
combines images from pre-Columbian mythology, western religious iconography, and American popular culture to create pieces of art which are satirical and often critical of Western colonialism and artistic appropriation.

With his Usual Sangfroid, Anthony Thwarts Yet Another Assassination Attempt

Collage on paper (2018) 11 x 17 in.