Cristián Silva Chilean , b. 1969

Since 1993 Cristian Silva has evolved a practice that traverses the most wildly diverse topics and subjects but that consistently weaves his own personal biography into more universal themes. Trained in the field of printmaking in the late 1980s and part of the first generation of artists from Chile’s post-dictatorship era, Cristián Silva has become a renowned artist on the Latin American contemporary art scene.

Inspired by a wide range of subjects that are on one level deeply personal as well as part of the general culture, Silva creates wall paintings, sculptures, installations, videos and drawings that build together an allegorical environment richly embedded with sociopolitical quotes. Golf balls, plastic bottles, peach pits, chocolate bars, an oversized machete, discarded tartan clothes, potatoes or an old window blind, become part of Silva’s symbolic alphabet, one that ambiguously negotiates with the never ending issues of post-colonial identity and class struggle in Latin America. Though a native of Chile, Silva lives and works in Guadalajara and cites the difficulties of the border between Texas and Mexico as a primary concern in his work.  

Cristián Silva is currently a Professor in Universidad de Chile, Universidad Alberto Hurtado and Universidad Finis Terrae, in Santiago.