CARLOS JACANAMIJOY

To define Jacanamijoy’s paintings is to construct the genealogy of a signature cosmology that is the outcome of an intercultural fusion between his ancestors’ traditions and his Western artistic baggage. The artist adheres to the principles of Abstract Expressionism and the autonomy of colour - a notion defined by Paul Gauguin - and, on his canvases, he offers a journey through the purity of his colours. Vibrant blues, yellows and reds that immerse us in a world of wild and altering environments that envelope and transport us to the forests of Colombia.

It is also a journey through the forest of the unconscious to transcendence along the road to the infinite based on Kant’s notion of the sublime. A journey within ourselves; an invitation to pause and reflect. Something stands out when we contemplate the artist’s work: that intense blue reminiscent of Yves Klein but that is also fluid, intangible and filters through our hands like a spring. And so, his work is not a straight line with a defined beginning and end; it is more of a curve, a circular figure with no beginning or end that unravels before our eyes.

A full press release by Leandro Varison, head of Research at Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, will follow.

Recent exhibitions include:‘Orificios en el viento’, Korea Foundation, Seoul, Korea, 2021; ‘Cantos de la Memoria’, Norwegian Museum of Cultural History, Oslo, Norway, 2020.; ‘Orificios de Vientos’, Museo Rayo 38 Años, Roldanillo Valle del Cauca, Colombia, 2019; ‘Orificios de Viento’, Museo de Arte Moderno de Toluca, 2018; ‘Las Selvas Cromáticas de Carlos Jacanamijoy’, Biblioteca EPM, Medellín, Colombia, 2015.