SEBASTIAN RIFFO MONTENEGRO
Visual artist born in Chile. He has a degree in Design and works as an Art Director in the area of marketing and advertising. Along with this activity, it maintains a solid production of works of art that criticize the consumer society and the creation of social beliefs. Disposable artificial products that envelop and define the behavior of man, very worked images that we see in different media but that have a programmed expiration. By passing these images to a pictorial work they lose their expiration and become timeless reflections of consumption.
Faceless figures in raincoats maneuver through deconstructed color-field backgrounds. Working with a selective palette and controlled lighting, Montenegro-Riffo reveals the intent of his work through veils of lucid colors and mysterious forms. Absence paradoxically presents clear criticism of current social mores. Through pictorial allegories, the paintings provoke the need to discern new meaning and awaken the tacit human condition of free will.
EXHIBITIONS
2015 – FAXXI / ART FAIR / SANTIAGO CHILE.
2015 – EXPO PARADIGMAS / GALERIA OOPS! / SANTIAGO CHILE.
2015 – SUBASTA DE ARTE, FUNDACION IGUALES / GALERIA LA SALA / SANTIAGO CHILE.
2016 – FAXXI / ART FAIR / SANTIAGO CHILE.
2016 – EXPO MANIFIESTA / GALERIA FAUNA / SANTIAGO CHILE.
2016 – MESTIZAJE / CAMPUS BELLAVISTA U. SAN SEBASTIAN / SANTIAGO CHILE.
2016 – ARTE ESPACIO / ART FAIR / BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA.
2016 – SAGRADO PROFANO / GALERIA AMBOS MUNDOS / BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA.
2017 – ART PALM BEACH / ART FAIR / PALM BEACH FLORIDA USA.
2017 – ART BOCA RATON / ART FAIR / PALM BEACH FLORIDA USA.
2017 – FAXXI / ART FAIR / SANTIAGO CHILE.
2017 – SGT PEPPER 50 YEAR / GALERIA EN TRANSITO / SANTIAGO CHILE.
2017 – ART STGO / ART FAIR / SANTIAGO CHILE.
2017 – CONTEXT ART MIAMI / ART FAIR / MIAMI FLORIDA USA.
2018 – OPENING GALLERY / ART LABBE GALLERY / MIAMI FLORIDA USA.
2018 – ART WYNWOOD / ART FAIR / MIAMI FLORIDA USA.
2018 – ART BOCA RATON / ART FAIR / MIAMI FLORIDA USA.
2018 – CONTEMPORARY TRANSFORMATION / DUKE ART SPACE / BANGKOK THAILAND.
2018 – STROKE / ART FAIR / MUNICH GERMANY.
2018 – CONTEXT ART MIAMI / ART FAIR / MIAMI FLORIDA USA.
2019 – PALM BEACH MODERN + CONTEMPORARY / ART FAIR / MIAMI FLORIDA USA.
2019 – ART WYNWOOD / ART FAIR / MIAMI FLORIDA USA.
2019 – VOLTAGE / ARTSPACE WAREHOUSE GALLERY / LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA USA.
2019 – NOTA BENE / ARTPLEX GALLERY / LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA USA.
2019 – COLECTIVO 2019 / GALERIA SALA EN TRANSITO / SANTIAGO CHILE.
2019 – ARTE EN DISTRITO BY FAXXI / ART FAIR / SANTIAGO CHILE.
2020 – FROM THE PAGE 2 / PARADIGM GALLERY / PHILADELPHIA USA.
2020 – ART WYNWOOD / ART FAIR / MIAMI FLORIDA USA.
2020 – COLLECTIVE ART SHOW / BONAFIDES GALLERY / MIAMI FLORIDA USA.
2021 – PALM BEACH MODERN + CONTEMPORARY / ART FAIR / MIAMI FLORIDA USA.
2021 – ART WYNWOOD / ART FAIR / MIAMI FLORIDA USA.
2021 – CONTEMPORARY NARRATIVES / LONDON PAINT CLUB / LONDON UK.
2022 – PALM BEACH MODERN + CONTEMPORARY / ART FAIR / MIAMI FLORIDA USA.
2022 – NEU JA. / B GALERIE / HAMBURG GERMANY.
2022 – POPCORN TIME / GOLDSHTEYN SAATORT GALLERY / PARIS FRANCE.
2022 – OUTLINED / THE ARX GALLERY / LONDON UK.
2022 – A SIZZLING SUMMER / GR GALLERY / NEW YORK USA.
2022 – CELEBRATING CONTEMPORARY LATINX ARTIST / ARTPLEX GALLERY / LOS ANGELES USA.
2022 – CRIPTOGRAFIA / GALLERY WEEKEND SANTIAGO / SANTIAGO CHILE.
2022 – SKIES OF FRUITFUL NIGHTS / ARTPLEX GALLERY / LOS ANGELES USA.
STATEMENT
La investigación artística de Sebastián Riffo Montenegro basa sus orígenes en el estudio de la relación que existe entre imagen, mensaje y receptor. Utilizando teorías provenientes de la antropología, sociología y comportamientos de consumo, el artista logra plasmar desde la técnica una crítica elaborada sobre la cultura del consumo y creación de creencias sociales. Su obra, desafía y re-trabaja la triada semiótica: signo –objeto– interpretante, desafiando al espectador a salirse de la comodidad acostumbrada que se tiene respecto del consumo de imágenes.
La literalidad de su trazo y lo minuciosa de su técnica parecieran ofrecer una realismo indiscutible en donde las imágenes, texturas y colores se presentan nítidos, frontales y concretos. Sin embargo la obra de Riffo Montenegro inevitablemente impulsa al espectador a indagar en el misterio latente que ofrece la misma, replanteando lo que a primera instancia se consume como mera imagen. En la obra de Riffo Montenegro, la imagen pictórica se trabaja deliberadamente a partir de registros fotográficos que hacen alusión directa a la reproductibilidad técnica que define a nuestra actual sociedad de consumo. La obra actúa entonces como catalizador de esta crítica hacia el consumo inconsciente de imágenes, hacia la construcción de creencias sociales regidas por los pilares mismos de la sociedad. Creencias que, eventualmente deforman nuestra capacidad y derecho al libre albedrío. La ausencia, paradójicamente presente en su obra, y trabajada desde la técnica, la selección de paleta y el manejo de la luz, funciona como signo aún más presente de esta crítica.
Riffo Montenegro logra velar la imagen y revelar significado al mismo tiempo, haciendo franca referencia a íconos socio-culturales que históricamente han modelado nuestro discurso inconsciente. A través de estas alegorías pictóricas, la obra provoca en el espectador la necesidad de develar la imagen, de descubrir y comprender un nuevo significado; replanteando y despertando en el individuo, la libre interpretación, propia de la condición humana.
Sebastian Riffo-Montenegro artistic investigation is based upon the study on the existing relationship between image, message and receptor. By applying theories from anthropology, sociology and consumption behavior spheres, the artist’s technique accomplishes to express an elaborated critique on the culture of consumption and the creation of societal beliefs. The work’s defies and reworks the semiotic triad: sign, object and interpretant by challenging the viewer to step out of his/hers comfort zone developed upon today’s image consumption.
The work’s literal strokes and meticulous techniques seem to offer an unquestionable realism, where images, textures and palette are presented clear, frontal and concrete. Nonetheless, Riffo-Montenegro’s work inevitably urges the viewer to delve in to the series’ underlying mystery, reconsidering what is initially offered as mere imagery. Deliberately worked from photographic records, the artist’s pictorial imagery references directly to Walter Benjamin’s Mechanical Reproducibility theory, which defines our existing consumer society. Consequently, Riffo-Montenegro’s series acts as a catalyst towards the critic on unconscious imagery consumption and the construction societal beliefs. Beliefs that are governed by our own social pillars, which ultimately deform our aptitude and right for free will. Worked from the palette selection, light control and pictorial techniques, absence is paradoxically present in his work, operating as an even clearer sign towards this critique.
Sebastian Riffo-Montenegro manages to both veil and reveals the image, frankly referencing socio-cultural icons that historically have molded our unconscious discourse. Through these pictorial allegories, the work’s provokes the necessity to unveil the imagery, to discern and comprehend a new significance, reconsidering and awakening the tacit human condition of free will.
riffomontenegro.com 