ARTURO DUCLOS

(Santiago, 1959)

His objects and two-dimensional work have long experimented with graphic methods and techniques, which are characterized by a process of “gathering.” These have, in turn, become the artist’s creative principle. Artworks such as Table mise (1997) and Arbeit macht frei (1997) propose a system of signs and codes, where the artist excavates images and texts taken from books, magazines, posters, etc. (the title of the second work means “work will make you free” in German; the phrase appeared at the entrance to various Nazi concentration camps). These are then subsequently reiterated and decontextualized until their use, legitimacy and logic are put in doubt. These acts of decontextualization of symbols and signs create new readings, free of one-dimensional or linear reconstructions and references.