Iván Navarro (born 1972 in Santiago, Chile) is a Chilean artist who works with light, mirrors, and glowing glass tubes to craft socially and politically relevant sculptures and installations. , he lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Early life and education

Navarro was born and raised in Santiago, Chile. The politics and government of his homeland have had a profound impact on his work, both in his choice of media and in the meaning and thought process he portrays in his neon sculptures and faux-furniture. As he grew up during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, Navarro was used to electricity being shut off to keep citizens at home and isolated; “All the pieces that I’ve made make reference to controlling activity, and electricity was a way to control people.”Man of Refraction | ARTnews

His father was a left-leaning dean of a university.

Navarro initially intended to study theatrical set design at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, but was not accepted by that department, so he studied art instead. He continued to participate informally in design and lighting for theater, and was awarded a BFA degree in 1995.

Artwork

An example of Navarro's work being steeped in his homeland's history while also speaking to current political debates is his You Sit, You Die, which consists of a lounge chair built from white fluorescent tubes. "'This is my version of the electric chair', the artist explains. Electricity was one of the tools of torture preferred by the Chilean government, but the piece also has local currency. On the paper seat, he has written the names of every individual executed in Florida by electric chair, to bear witness to the state's record on capital punishment."

Navarro also works with light and infinity mirrors, in which viewers lose themselves in an apparently infinite space as neon phrases or structures loom out and suggest what lies beyond. These abyss-like works can link back to Navarro's fear of being abducted as a child. As he navigates his past, the artist readily admits, "There is a certain amount of fear in my pieces". In Criminal Ladder (2005), Navarro created a high ladder made with fluorescent light tubes. On the tubes he has written the names of people who committed human rights abuses during the Pinochet time in power.

He is represented by Galerie Daniel Templon.

Selected exhibitions and works 2019 MACBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina This Land is Your Land, currently installed at Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois (July 27, 2018 - September 30, 2019) 2018 Prostutopia, Galerie Templon, Brussels Hangang Art Park Creation Project, Seoul, Korea Podium, Galerie Templon 2017 Fanfare, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris Rue Beauborg Untitled, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO USA 2016 Summer Sculpture Exhibition, Paul Kasmin Gallery Mute Parade, Paul Kasmin Gallery Vigilantes, Museo del Hongo, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Valdivia 2014 Nacht und Nebel, Galerie Daniel Templon, Brussels This Land is Your Land, originally installed at Madison Square Park, New York (February 20, 2014 - April 20, 2014) 2013 Where is the Next War?, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris 2012 Impenetrables, Art Kabinett, Paul Kasmin Gallery, Art Basel, Miami Iván Navarro: Fluorescent Light Sculptures, Frost Museum of Art, Miami Heaven or Las Vegas, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, US Nacht und Nebel, Fondazione Volume!, Rome 2011 UNO Fence, Prospect.2 at UNO Gallery, New Orleans The Armory Fence, Paul Kasmin Gallery at the Armory Show, New York Heaven or Las Vegas, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York 2010 Tener Dolor en el Cuerpo de Otro, Distrito 4, Madrid Tierra de Nadie, Caja De Burgos, Burgos, Spain Missing, Chambre Blanche, Manif d´art 5, Catastrophe?, Quebec, Canada 2009 Die, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York Nowhere Man, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris Threshold, 53rd Biennale di Venezia, Chilean Pavilion, Venice Nowhere Man, Contemporary Art Center Towner, Eastbourne, UK 2008 Antifurniture, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris 2006 Spy Glass, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris 2004 Juice sucker, CSPS Legion Arts, Iowa, USA Monuments for D. Flavin, Roebling Hall, Brooklyn, USA 2002 Blade runner, Gasworks Studios, London, UK 2001 Big Bang, Galería Animal, Santiago, Chile 1996 Camping day, PUC, Santiago, Chile

Selected collections Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris Towner Contemporary Art Museum, Eastbourne, UK LVMH Collection, Paris Saatchi Collection, London Martin Z. Margulies Warehouse, Miami Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Vanhaerents Art Collection, BrusselsIt's as if the twin towers were in front of you but in depth

Further reading

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