Victor Castillo

For his first solo exhibition in USA, Victor Castillo has chosen a biblical title taken from the lyrics of a song by Violeta Parra, a communist Chilean folk musician and visual artist. The title and the decontextualized lyrics are a statement of Castillo’s contempt for western society’s fundamentalism. Expansive politics – bombing, invasion and imposition of the self culture in foreign countries –, racism, omnipresence of violence, weapons culture, extremist Catholicism, etc. are some of the subjects of his new series of paintings. He depicts decadent aspects from our society through the use of an apocalyptical visual poetry. Children are the main actors in the artworks. They portray dark scenes where toys become weapons and cruelty replaces innocence. They act as metaphors but are actually not so far from reality when compared to facts like the trends in youth towards broadcasting their own violence and executing brutality without compassion or recognition of actual consequences. In Victor’s narratives the cast of characters usually feature hot dog noses and hollowed out eyes. This is to represent excitement, arrogance, desire, and the thought of cannibalism (the obviously phallic noses) juxtaposed with unconsciousness, blindness, insanity and dehumanization represented by the empty eye sockets. Additional common traits to his paintings are the use of lighting (characters are often tellingly lit as if from flames from below) and children in Victorian finery often doing horrible things. A brutal darkness emanates from each canvas beyond the initial reaction to the cartoon grotesquery and goofy over the top-ness of the characters with a penchant for gleeful violence, writing out words in juicy entrails and carrying the cross.
Castillo was raised in a humble neighborhood in Santiago de Chile, a conflictive political and social environment, being the country under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. If historically Chile had been strongly influenced by the post-colonial Spain, during this period politics, economy and culture were heavily influenced by Wasington, the strength of the dollar and Hollywood. Victor developed since then an ambiguous relationship with the US. For him it was a country that exerted a colonial-style influence but brought a culture which fast became his main source of inspiration, far from anything else he had known before. In his first solo exhibition in Spain his paintings related a love and hate feeling towards Spain and Chile, the paintings in this first solo show in the USA ooze with a trace of ambiguous admiration and criticism towards the US.

We have hi rez images available, just contact us @kirsten@roqlarue if you'd like to see them. Click to enlarge images!

Just added!

Victor Castillo
"Un tornado arrazo mi ciudad y mi jardín primitivo"
acrylic on canvas
57" x 57"
$8000.


"When The Heavens Open"
acrylic on canvas
40" x 40"
framed in simple black frame
$5360. Sold


"Lie To Me"
acrylic on canvas
40" x 40"
framed in simple black frame
$5360. Sold


"Red Bats With Teeth"
acrylic on canvas
40" x 40"
framed in simple black frame
$5360.


"Game Over"
acrylic on canvas
40" x 40"
framed in simple black frame
$5360.


"I've Seen That Face Before"
acrylic on canvas
40" x 40"
framed in simple black frame
$5360.


"Instant Karma"
acrylic on canvas
24" x 24"
framed in simple black frame
$3200
.

"Hour of The Pig"
graphite on paper
10" x 10" (image)
comes in ornate gold frame
$850. Sold


Un Tornado Arrazo Mi Ciudad Y Mi Jardin Primitivo"
graphite on paper
9" x 10" (image)
comes in ornate gold frame
$850. Sold


"Y Vienen Los Imbeciles"
graphite on paper
9" x 10" (image)
comes in ornate gold frame
$850. Sold


"Que Dira el Santo Padre"
acrylic over vintage print on paper
22" x 31"
comes in ornate gold frame
$2260.


"I Have A Dream"
acrylic over vintage print on paper
22" x 30"
comes in ornate gold frame
$2260.


"Kneel Before Your God"
acrylic over vintage print on paper
22" x 31"
comes in ornate gold frame
$2260.


"Cannibal Song 1"
acrylic over vintage print on paper
9" x 11"
comes in ornate gold frame
$800.


"Cannibal Song 2"
acrylic over vintage print on paper
9" x 11"
comes in ornate gold frame
Sold


"Cannibal Song 3"
acrylic over vintage print on paper
9" x 11"
comes in ornate gold frame
$800.