OMAR CHACÓN | NIMBA

“My research and interest in the structure of painting throughout time enables me to break down the components of the act, allowing for a physical separation of the material from the canvas. I liken my works to a social gathering; a global nation comprised of a diverse blend of culturally different peoples, living amongst each other with a sense of unity, yet maintaining individuality; each unit, each drip is unique.”

Adapting within the process of making art is a path of learning. Every painting is its own theory or Universe; it is a world unto itself. It is an infinitely radical galaxy according to its own rules. In some metaphysical but organic way, you are seeing the group mind and I cherish this solidarity with my colleagues and especially with the history of painting. Being responsive to change is not only an inherently creative act in the studio but with both invention and integrity as the goal, art and life holds the most promise, the most reward!” ­­- Omar Chacón

Omar Chacón’s (NY) second solo exhibition at Robischon Gallery, “NIMBA,” features a distinctive range of process-oriented, amalgamated paintings. Utilizing individual pigmented elements to create textural abstract works, Chacón amplifies both the plasticity and dimensional nature of his medium. His pre-made drips of paint are hardened individually, or in strips, and migrated to the canvas in service of his overall color arena where each element inhabits the role of a single brushstroke adding to the glossy, bright, aggregate whole. His poetic title borrows from the Golden Age of Columbian writers and poets and represents the joy of living and the promise of a bountiful harvest. (Nimba repesenta la alegria de vivir y la promesa se una cosecha abundante.)

As an informed and sensitive artist, reverent to his upbringing, traditions in craft, art history and contemporary cultural and politics, Chacón finds the promise of hope within the act of art making. He writes, “Born in Bogotá, Colombia, I intertwine my Latin heritage with the discourses found from classical antiquity to modernism. Though greatly absorbed with art historical reference, at its core my work deals with subjects that shine from my heart, baroque in thought, fruitful in being and orgiastic in beauty.” With a passionate nature and each handmade mark, Chacón reflects the moment as he finds it; restrictive or fluid, disordered or ordered, bound or unbound, his paintings stand as a layered investigation. The artist shares, “I also like to think of weaving cultures together through my mosaic-like process...it’s all a journey for me of where I come from and my attraction to other cultures.”

Both in metaphor and artistic practice, Omar Chacón exalts in the promise of a diverse universal community as each brush stroke unites the whole.

Born in Bogotá, Colombia and based in Queens, NY, Omar Chacón received his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, CA, and his BFA from the Ringling School of Art and Design, FL. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in cities such as Los Angeles, Milan, San Francisco, New York City, and Mexico City. Chacón has participated in exhibitions at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in New York, NY, and the Mobile Museum of Art in Mobile, AL. In 2009, Chacón was selected as part of the Queens International Four at the 2009 Biennial at the Queens Museum of Art, New York. Chacón received a public commission from the NYU Langone Art Program and Collection in 2017. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2007 William and Dorothy Yeck Award through the Miami University National Young Painters Competition and the 2008 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. His paintings have been reviewed in Art & Antiques, Artnet, Art in America, and Artweek Magazine, among other publications.