Jorge Contreras
In the different themes that Jorge Contreras has developed, the city and nature are always present and closely related. In these settings, man is absent and gives way to an urban territory, with emotional atmospheres, inhabited by symbolic elements – frequently buildings and types of transportation – that function as vestiges of collective histories.
Contreras’ artistic proposal is identified with an ethical meaning, of social and ecological awareness. And this is precisely the point of connection with the series of comic book superheroes, which since 2017 he has been incorporated into his repertoire. For the artist, characters like Mickey Mouse, Popeye and Olivia, Spider-Man, Star Wars, Astroboy, Betty Boop, among many others, have marked important moments in our lives. These images promoted a change in the foundations of visual culture, and pointed the gaze towards the ‘social life of images’. They also took up the inheritance of the mythology of the hero or anti-hero, as an idealized figure with supernatural powers and attributes of great nobility and virtues.
