Nicolás Vizcaíno Sánchez

Colombia, b. 1991

In the northwest state of Chocó in Colombia, bright colourful beads can be found in traditional clothing, ornaments, and amulets used by the indigenous Embera people, and in hairstyles worn by many Afro-Colombians living in this region. Throughout the twentieth century and to the present, both social groups have been marginalised from the state and labour market owing to governmental policy that is based on racist social hierarchies and dates back to colonial society. In recent years, the Embera people have been persecuted and forcibly displaced across the country, becoming refugees within Colombian territory. The pat-tern created by the beads in this work is the artist’s visual representation of human movement across a landscape. The work’s imagery appears as if it had been generated by thermal-vision technologies used by the military. Vizcaíno’s visual reference cites the thermal-vision weaponry used by the character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator (1987), which tells the story of a violent military operation in a rainforest in an anonymous South American country. The chromatic playfulness of Fiebre Súper Nórdica (2016–17) and the need for the audience to cross through this work, creates a direct relation with the body, and encourages an experience of crossing a threshold of uncertainty with the sensation of distorting space and altering perception.

Nicolás Vizcaíno Sánchez works in a variety a media, collaboratively working on socially engaged projects, writing, editing, and curating. In Colombia he has had two solo exhibitions, Cabezas Calientes, Paraíso Bajo (2017), and Mientras tanto en el mundo, Más Allá (2016), and has participated in group exhibitions at the Valenzuela Klenner Gallery (2017); Espacio KB (2016); and Casa Rat Trap (2015). Internationally he has been involved in fairs such as the Art Book Fair of Bergen, Norway (2015), and Feira Plana, São Paulo, Brazil (2015). Most recently he participated in a group show in The Box Gallery, Los Angeles (2017). He studied art and political science, and currently investigates the mysteries of ‘Viche’, a handcrafted drink made by Afro-descendant communities on the Colombian pacific coast.

(Text: 38th EVA International catalogue)