Manuela Viera Gallo

The artistic practice of Manuela Viera Gallo which moves through different formats, appears diverse, fantastic and filled with black humor.  Manuela presents an eclectic body of work that comes from an interest in experimenting with the direct relation and reaction of the public with the work of art, as the biggest representation of the socio-political relationships.

Born during the exile of her parents in Rome, her point of view since then has been very influenced by the social and political violence that affected a big part of Latin America.  She creates abstract paintings and installations that often reveal beautiful and mysterious nightmares and memories of lost places. Her video career is composed of a dozen mini-presentations that use the language of movies and mass media to elaborate a pseudo apocalyptic trance about the current state of the world by using images that used to be political and cultural dogmas that are shown crashing and falling like glass figurines, frail and useless.

Daffodil Fragmented and broken ceramic dishes and cups, lashed together create a serialized and overloaded sequence of ornaments. The objects look dangerous: sharp, pointed, and capable of harm, yet they hang silent and inert, proof of a violent action that has already taken place. As an immersive and sterile record, these choreographies of debris arranged in different spatial relationships disguise in their ambiguity the allusion to the abuse of women and the comfortably concealed tragedy of domestic violence on a global scale.

The name of the sculpture is Daffodil. Daffodil flower is known for its symbolism of new beginnings and rebirth and is, therefore, the perfect flower to give someone in the New Year. The flower, in general, is thought to reassure happiness and friendship, however, a single bloom is thought to represent a misfortune – reflecting in this case the misfortune of the violence, but at the same time the hope of a new beginning.

Reconstruction from the series Domestic Violence I, 2020 These castoff objects are displayed almost like an archaeological discovery, like the bones of some fossilized creature, broken and incomplete. This inventory comprises the pieces of a puzzle that can be explored like a forensic investigation, where the bodies help to recreate and imagine the original, but also reveal the fragile traditions we inherit and help to question the cyclical damage affecting our society and lives.

Due Status An installation of more than 15 wooden pigeons with heads that range from surveillance and paparazzi cameras to safe deposit boxes and grenades. Nodding to the media, some of the birds also feature emoticons.  They appear to be lurking from a network of geometric branches that form dollar signs and justice scales, in a playful yet sinister allegory infused with facial expressions and masks like tribal idols.  The installation evokes nature as a metaphor for cultural propositions and political statements.

As a “pigeon fiction”, the installation features several characters that represent different actors involved in intelligence operations during international crises, all appearing erratic and paralyzed in the midst of chaos and despair.  They are headless birds defending a doomed nest.

Staged as a modern-day fable of miscellaneous avian figures situated in a tense power struggle and conspiracy, the characters are trapped in what seems to be a collusive and murky survival alliance of precarious balance. They engage in diverse and simultaneous discourses concerting dealings and secret negotiations that shall perpetuate each power, ideology or species.

BIO

Manuela Viera Gallo (Rome, 1977)

The artistic practice of Manuela Viera Gallo which moves through different formats appears diverse, fantastic, and filled with black humor. Manuela presents an eclectic body of work that comes from an interest in experimenting with the direct relation and reaction of the public with the work of art, as the biggest representation of the socio-political relationships.

Born during the exile of her parents in Rome, her point of view since then has been very influenced by the social and political violence that affected a big part of Latin America. She creates abstract paintings and installations that often reveal beautiful and mysterious nightmares and memories of lost places. She went back to Chile in 1984 where she studied Art at The Catholic University of Santiago de Chile. She has lived in New York since 2005.

Manuela has been credited with several distinctions and in 2010 was established as a strong young artist within the local and international circuits. She has exhibited her work internationally having solo shows at La Central Gallery, Bogota, Colombia (2013), Aninat Gallery, Santiago, Chile (2013), Y Gallery, New York. USA (2010), Valenzuela & Klenner Foundation, Bogota, Colombia (2007), Broadway 1602 Gallery, New York, USA (2007), Die Ecke Gallery, Santiago, Chile (2006; Rebecca Container Gallery, Genova, Italy (2005), 24/7 Gallery, East End London, UK (2002). She has participated in several group shows at Mueso del Barrio, Art Museum of the Americas, 10th Biennale of video and media Arts of Chile, CIF, Camdem International Film Festival, Asymmetrick Arts Center, Chelsea Art Museum, East Asia Contemporary Museum or 5th Biennial do Mercosur, among others.