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Jorge de León

Material Art Fair 2016

Material Art Fair, México City
Expo Reforma
Booth B3



When he was younger, Jorge De León ran around Guatemala City with a violent street gang—or “delinquent group” as the euphemism goes—causing trouble and expressing his artistic side by designing tattoos for his fellow gangbangers. Then, one day, he got stabbed in an altercation and decided it was time to get out, and he went to art school. (Along the way he also was in and out of jail 12 times.) Now De León makes art that explores urban themes through the lens of his gang experience, balancing violent subject matter with formal rigor.

In his solo booth at the fair, there is a suite of drawings that he makes by painting a small rectangle of sheet metal black and then dropping coins on it, scratching out spidery bullet holes where the coins land; the haphazard placement is meant to convey the random threat of stray bullets, while the drawings are covered with reflective glass to suggest the viewer is implicated in the violence as well.

Other pieces in the booth include sculptural evocations of cinder blocks, and a video showing him leading a horse to plow a furrow on the beach, a Sisyphean style of drawing that is quickly erased by the sea. (He was long known primarily for his performances, which were often tough and body-oriented).