Santiago Quesnel
born 1975, Argentina
Charlotte, North Carolina – Latin American Contemporary Art (LaCa) Projects presents The Daydreamer and the Bucolic Life He Will Never Get, an exhibition of new work by Argentinian artist Santiago Quesnel. This will be the artist’s third solo exhibition with the gallery.
Using images from places all over the world, including found images and photographs he takes himself, Santiago Quesnel’s paintings create a new, handmade universe, juxtaposing imagery from different viewpoints as a celebration of nature. Remnants of landscapes or simple details are repeatedly overlaid on colorful backgrounds and foregrounds, resulting in a melancholic, atmospheric world that is all his own. Many of these works, painted on tracing paper, take on a sense of fragility, comparable to that found in nature itself. Some describe a scene, or the weather, while other works speak more formally or abstractly, following a more conceptual language.
Quesnel states: “The most distinct aspect of what I do is reducing a scene to its essentiality, or what I interpret that essential state to be. This gives the viewer a sense of what is important to me—the creation of an atmosphere with as few objects as possible. I try to create the space and the surrounding scene through light, shadow, and even aura. My work exudes a sense of suspension between breaths, which is often palpable during my creation process.”
Quesnel’s body of work is a reflection of natural beauty—nearly everything he creates could exist in nature—but often does not. The painting as a whole is the primary focus, rather than individual details or objects, though there is a logic to the placement of those elements that are intrinsic to the work as it progresses. He emphasizes that placement through blurring or heightened contrast, and his more recent explorations of painting on tracing paper emphasize a deconstructed form, more irresponsible in creation, and help compose a new scene reinforced by the transparency of the medium.
Quesnel, educated at Universidad de Buenos Aires, studied alongside Jorge Dermigian and Héctor Destefanis, and participated in work clinics with Tomas Espina and Fabián Burgos. He has had solo exhibitions at the Centro Cultural Recoleta, the Galeria Jardin Oculto, the Galeria Bacano, La Casa de Tucumán, and the LUX Art Institute (California) and his work can be found in private collections in France, England, the United States, Argentina and Uruguay. Quesnel is an active participant in critic seminars and children’s art instruction in Buenos Aires.
A public opening celebration with the artist will take place at LaCa Projects on Friday, November 16, from 6-9 PM.