Ignacio Chico

Ignacio Chico (Argentina, 1986) holds a Master's degree in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art, the United Kingdom, and a Bachelor's degree in Visual Arts from the Universidad Nacional del Arte in Argentina.

In his academic training, he completed specialization courses at Central Saint Martins (UK) and the School of Visual Arts (NY). In 2017, he attended AIR 3331 Arts Chiyoda residency in Tokyo. He attended Gachi Prieto Gallery's PAC Project and studied crits with Andrés Waissman and Ananké Asseff.

His first solo exhibition, "A Word on war", about Malvina's war, was held in Japan in 2017. He was part of the performance group show "El Centro en Movimiento", at the CCK in Buenos Aires, and in 2019, he won the acquisition price at Bahía Blanca Art Biennale.

In 2018, he founded the space for artistic experimentation Douzo Rocamora and curated "Wasuremono", sponsored by the CC of the Embassy of Japan in Argentina.

He lives and works between Europe and Argentina.

‘Friend of psychoanalysis’ project responds to the irruption of thoughts, confusions and childhood memories recollected in the process of psychoanalytic therapy.

Within debates on decolonization and gender, my research problematizes stereotypes of masculinity concerning the church and military institutions. Christianism was fundamental in the processes/periods of colonization in Latin America and consequently in the socio-political organization of the region.

The inheritance of those processes or ideologies was/is conferred and entrusted at many levels. I experienced Christianity through baptism and elementary school catechism until I was eleven years old. In the following years, that education ceased. My mother told me about Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory, introducing me to the concept of the unconscious and sexuality. Her voice traversed my education and beliefs.

This body of work unfolds concerns about religion, masculinity, fantasy and trauma. Exploring different media I reflect on my character, obsessions and idealisms. Immersed in this territory, I delve deep into the complexity of thought and my ambivalent mood.

Catacombs, Performance & installation, 2021

Catacombs is an installation and performance work developed during 2020 and 2021. The mediums and materials used were: soil, mud, a school uniform, roots, shoes, a blue backpack, saliva, piss, and thoughts about life after death.

The following writing responds to my notes while researching Catacombs: existential phenomenon; interpreter of the crisis; uncontrollable water; emotional architecture; buildings of the self; burial chambers; sepulture; sanitary reasons; wall niches, tombs; bones, skulls, necropolis; Lima, Rome, Cappadocia; loculus, cavity; chenque; ossuary; catacumbae.

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Performance & installation, 2021

Hermitage, Performance & installation, 2020

Hermitage is a performance and installation work developed in 2020. The media and materials used were: a room, mud, woods, green walls, a priest’s cassock, pee, shoes, water, fear, depression, odour, and exhaustion.

The following writing responds to my notes while researching for Hermitage: mental space; symptom; oblivion; isolation; uncontrollable water, infraleve; childhood amnesia; hermit; penance, mortification; asceticism; conversion; amnesia.

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Performance & installation, 2020

Arch is an installation composed of three objects: two plaster columns, one bronze sculpture (Wrestlers) and a thick piece of wood, resulting in a flat self-supporting arch.

The mediums and materials used were: soil, mud, plaster, wood, green paint, bronze and thoughts on sexual awakening and maturity.

Wrestlers is a small bronze sculpture depicting two male figures in a wrestling take.

The making process involved a set of different researches and techniques: searching pictures of wrestling takes; drawing sketches; researching male anatomy and sketching anatomy studies; first three-dimensional depiction in terracotta; building an armature and modelling clay; modelling wax over the clay sculpture; 3D scanning and printing of the previous stages of the clay sculpture; casting the clay-wax figure with silicone; casting the figure in green wax; building the final model figure in wax; casting bronze (held by metal workshop team); sanding, re-shaping the bronze; filing the metal with different tools, and gold plating.

The following writing responds to my notes on Wrestlers; fight, sex, bodies, anatomy, history of sculpture, two men, take, column, trophy, and memorial.

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Installation, 2022

Ignacio Chico

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Royal College of Art