Body: Instrument and File By Cristiano Mangovo
Photos are courtesy of the artist and Chase Contemporary
Chase Contemporary is pleased to present the solo exhibition debut from Angolan visual artist Cristiano Mangovo (b. 1982), Body: Instrument and File, which opened on June 15th and will close on July 13th. Primarily based between Lisbon, Portugal, and Cabinda, Angola, as a child he fled the Angolan Civil War to the Democratic Republic of Congo where, with his mother’s encouragement, went on to study at the Academy Des Beaux-Arts (he is in NYC for a two-month residency with Chase, currently creating all new pieces for the show). The paintings in this exhibition explore the body as an instrument for creation and destruction, and a file (or archive) of lived experiences. His large-scale acrylic paintings often touch on the cultural differences between his two homes, and the artist’s experiences in Angola have led him to advocate for social and environmental change through his art, addressing climate change, gender inequality, and other universal human concerns in his work.
Photos are courtesy of the artist and Chase Contemporary
His unique style combines surreal & expressionistic elements, painting distorted, multi-faceted faces, often with two mouths. This body of work also connects disappearing rituals from Angola with scenes of nature and metropolitan life. Making a painting of disappearing Angolan traditions, like Tchikumbi (an ancestral rite of initiation and fertility, marking the passage of the young girl from childhood to marriageable age), allows him to memorialize these traditions and pass them on to others. His visual storytelling functions as a method of cultural preservation, conveying the message that all cultures, though varied, should be approached on an equal level, with respect and harmony. For Mangovo, the body is a planet, vast, sometimes incomprehensible, and full of brutality and riches. It is at the core of all experience, an agent for creation and destruction with a capacity for communication beyond language. The body also chronicles all of the physical and emotional marks left on each of us throughout our lives. Everything that moves — human, animal, and organic forms —inspires him. When someone stands before his paintings, he wants them to see a living thing, something vibrant and energetic. He views his work as an act of bringing things to life and waking people up to their surroundings.
The winner of the 2018 Ensa-Art Prize as the Best Visual Artist of Angola, his work has been exhibited at international fairs like 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in Paris (Jan. 2021), Expo Milan, and he’s participated in over 50 exhibitions & performances in Angola, Portugal, France, Italy, South Africa, Zimbabwe, D.R. Congo, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
For more information about the exhibit, please visit Chase Contemporary’s site.
