VICENTE GAJARDO (CILE)

Josè Vicente Gajardo was born in Tomè, Chile, on 27th, October, 1953. He studied art at the University of Concepciòn, Chile, and received his degree in Art, with special studies in Sculpture, in 1983.
As a postgraduate, he has studied in many sculpture symposia and workshop in Chile and abroad.
His preferred material is granite and, for many years, he has lived close to the Andes mountains which provide him with a natural source of the basic material he requires for his sculptures.
He also has a teaching position as Professor of Sculpture at the Finis Terrae University, Santiago, Chile.
Vicente has given several personal exhibitions in Chile and has received many prizes in Latin America for his sculpture. His urban works can be seen in many of Chile's cities. At the international level, his work can be seen around the globe.
His scupltures are in private collections in Venezuela, Argentina, Italy, Holland, Portugal, France, Canada, USA and Chile.
His pieces have also been included in museums of fine art and collective exhibitions in Chile and other countries.
From 1980 onward, Gajardo has kept away from of the pubblic world. His main concern was getting the hard Chilean stone (grey granite and black basalt) to talk for itself through him. It is a solitary task and, most of the time, little understood by those of the art world who measure success by easy consumerism. But Gajardo seeks his individualism facing the problem of space. And, away from localised controversy, his creation has now been consolidated at national and international levels.
His vision has managed to transcend the immediate in order to trasform the worn out, classic sculptural model into a contemporary proposition because his sculpture question both positive and negative space and when the works are place in public (urban) or private (intimate) space, the light and shade play fundamental roles.
His labours surge forth surrounded by a system which has elevated objectivism to levels never seen before and imposes the rigour, the beauty and the exigency of the use of minimal resources. Faced with present day fetishism, austerity itself is used to call the attention. His work today stands strikingly in contrast to reality. It goes against decorative objectivism and demands a severe reflection upon the original nature of the work of art in public space.

M. Carolina Abell Soffia

Vicente Gajardo: Casilla 26 Dortihue VI Region CHILE

jv_gayardo@hotmail.com