Artists

Gabriel Chaile

Press release

A hand’s quick palm presses against the earth to plaster the wall with clay and sawdust. Still damp and shining, the substrate moves swiftly to cover the metal supports. Adobe – a technique over 4,000 years old, a word that has moved from the Egyptian language to Arabic and Spanish – is a mudbrick material found across many regions of the planet. Here, it settles into the hands of Gabriel Chaile as the central feature of his exhibition Los jóvenes olvidaron sus canciones o Tierra de Fuego at ChertLüdde.

Gabriel Chaile (1985, San Miguel de Tucumán) is known for his large sculptures and installations based on his ongoing research into rituals and popular communal gatherings occurring in his community. Raised in the northern city of San Miguel de Tucumán in Argentina, with Spanish, Afro-Arabic, and Indigenous Candelaria heritage, Chaile uses traditional methods of art production to ensure the cultures of his heritage are not forgotten. He does this by using archetypal materials, forms and symbols associated with pre-Columbian cultures to blend Indigenous mythologies with contemporary social themes.