Sharp Hands Gallery Fall 2021

Part of our mission with starting Sharp Hands Gallery was not only curating shows with our favorite artists from around the world, but also to give others the thrill of assembling shows with the artists that they love. In the world of collage, we’re discovering new artists all the time and it’s especially fun for us to see who our favorite artists love and look to for inspiration. We’re excited that Kike Congrains agreed to curate this show. It shows his obvious pride in the collage art coming from various Latin American countries. Having met Kike at the first two KolajFests (in 2018 and 2019), we know that he’s one of the most beloved supporters and champions of international collage and the people who make it. His love, talent, and enthusiasm is something to behold. So we turn the stage to him…

GUEST CURATOR: KIKE CONGRAINS, PRESENTING LATIN AMERICAN COLLAGE

There is currently a collage boom in Latin America. The pandemic brought with it a new generation of collage artists who, armed with magazines, have invaded social networks with their creations. This show includes six artists who have been dedicating themselves to collage long before the current boom. Each one represents a country in Latin America and each one offers us a particular look at their world through collage.

Mila González, founder of Collage Chile, presents a series of analog collages characterized by fragments of colors that resemble confetti, while Jay Berrones from México uses tape to recreate a layer of transparency present in digital collage. Laura Macias, founder member of Red Collage Colombia, unearths notebooks from her childhood as a reminder of her essence, and Samuel Eller from Brazil plays with images of people with bundles, creating a metaphorical weight. Carolina Chocron from Argentina explores the puzzle quality of the tangrams in her pieces, and lastly, I used old Japanese mangas to recreate the kinetic element in oriental comics. Enjoy!

—Kike Congrains, Peru