Cristóbal Cea
(Santiago, Chile, 1981)
Utiliza medios y referencias de diversas materialidades y épocas, desde animación 3D a pintura en óleo. Es probable que sea esta predisposición a lo materialmente indefinido o fluido -aquellos intersticios entre lo análogo y lo digital-, que su trabajo se sitúa en las ambigüedades históricas y biográficas que caracterizan nuestra historia e idiosincrasia: abundante en mitos, duelos no enunciados y hábitos muchas veces tóxicos y difíciles de romper.
Sus obras intentan dispersar embrujos enunciando y desenrollando las contradicciones que los articulan: violencia ritual y sesgos informativos en “Glorias”, el imperecedero espectro de la violencia autoritaria en “Hawker Haunted”, o las paradojas de la transición democrática narradas por un autorretrato preadolescente en “Seguidores del Diluvio”.
Ha obtenido diversos reconocimientos en Chile y el extranjero, como la Beca Fulbright de Magister, President Scholarship de RISD, Gelman Travel Grant de Tufts University, Fondart (2010) y residencias como MacDowell Colony, MassMOCA y Kohler Arts Industry, entre otras. Actualmente reside en la ciudad de Boston (EEUU), donde es profesor de la School of the Museum of Fine Arts, y pasa los veranos -o inviernos- en Chile con sus seres queridos y, también, con los no tan queridos.
Galería de Obras
Cristóbal Cea
(Santiago, Chile, 1981)
Cea works across media and references from diverse materials and eras, ranging from 3D animation to oil painting. It is likely that this predisposition toward the materially undefined or fluid—the interstices between analog and digital—is what locates his work within the historical and biographical ambiguities that characterize our history and idiosyncrasy: abundant in myths, unspoken griefs, and habits often toxic and difficult to break.
His work attempts to undo these spells by voicing and unraveling the contradictions that sustain them: ritual violence and information bias in Glorias; the imperishable specter of authoritarian violence in Hawker Haunted; or the paradoxes of the democratic transition narrated through a prepubescent self-portrait in Seguidores del Diluvio.
Cea has been the recipient of various accolades, both in Chile and abroad, including the Fulbright Master’s Scholarship, the RISD Presidential Scholarship, the Gelman Travel Grant from Tufts University, and the Chilean Government’s Fondart (2010). He’s also been awarded coveted residencies, such as MacDowell Colony, MassMoCA, and Kohler Arts Industry, among others.He currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts, where he teaches at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. He spends summers—or winters—in Chile with his loved ones, and also with the not-so-loved.
