BLM - Spirit of the Ladder (2020) 

ARTIST

Frank Xarate (he/him)
Buenaventura, Colombia
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Frank was born on a small Pacific island in Colombia called Buenaventura. In 2017, he arrived in Argentina where he studied visual communication design at the National University of La Plata (UNLP). Frank is currently finishing a postgraduate degree in conceptual design at Universidad Nacional Tres de Febrero (UNTREF).

Besides being a designer, visual artist ha has participated in different collective exhibitions in  La Plata and Buenos Aires.

“My idea of a work of art is based on the possibility of creating an image that allows me to travel and create an image to that primitive childhood, to be in a ritual with the materials and the dreams. I explore an interconnection between a virtual world in relation to new technologies and ways of communicating, in a swing towards a past, towards the construction of a myth, a ritual to decipher my identity as a visual artist. Creating new representations.”

LOCATION

Merchant Park
398 Portage Ave.
Winnipeg, MB
Downtown 

ABOUT / ARTIST STATEMENT

– SPA–

Mis trabajos se construyen sobre diversos soportes como papel, tela, acrílico, vinilo auto adhesivo
para tela, recortes de revistas, diarios, además de objetos encontrados adheridos a la obra.
En algunos casos para los montajes digitales el uso de imágenes propias y de la web, el escaneo
de objetos orgánicos e inorgánicos encontrados en la vía pública que hacen parte de la obra.


Estos collages digitales/manuales, esténciles, ilustraciones, estampas, telares y esculturas
no intentan explorar mundos desconocidos, sino la conexión con el imaginario que funda mi
infancia en Colombia, la memoria de la negritud y relevamientos de mitos que atravesaron mi
identidad. Estas obras también buscan construir el relato de un paisaje mítico, con la utilización
del color, construyendo personajes, en función de la recreación de mitos antiguos según mi
perspectiva del mundo.


El material invisible de mis obras son los sueños, relatos y objetos de infancia, miedos, e imágenes
que me interpelan en el océano pacífico, la densidad de la selva al atravesar las montañas, estas
experiencias aguardan como una segunda piel en los sentidos, las imágenes que creo son un cuerpo
voluble que habla por sí mismo, ellas sugieren su propio universo en donde mis manos son el
tamiz de su cuerpo.

– ENG – 

My works are made on various supports, such as paper, cloth, acrylic, self-sticking vinyl for cloth, magazine clippings, newspapers, as well as objects found that were consecutively attached to the works. In some cases, I use digital assemblies, my own images and images from the web, and scan organic and inorganic objects found on public roads and integrate them to my works.

These digital/manual collages, stencils, illustrations, prints, looms and sculptures are not intended to explore unknown worlds, but rather to setup a connection with the imaginary that founded my childhood in Colombia, the memory of blackness and recreation of myths that left an imprint on my identity.

These works also seek to build the story of a mythical landscape I use color and build characters based on the recreation of ancient myths according to my perspective of the world.

The invisible stuff of my works are dreams, stories and objects of my childhood, as well as fears and images that appeal me from the Pacific Ocean and the dense forest I used to cross to get to the mountains. Those experiences remain dormant, like a second skin in my senses. The images that I create are a fickle body that speaks for itself by whispering their own universe where my hands screen their bodies.


Using Format