Jhonatan Pulido : Un respiro y dos parpadeos, or one breath and two blinks

The exhibition takes its title–Un respiro y dos parpadeos, or one breath and two blinks–from a painting with the same name, which references a particular moment in the artist’s childhood memories. The phrase refers to a colloquial measurement of time, in the artist’s lived experience, that it takes for guerrillas and paramilitary groups to spray-paint graffiti on walls following an act of terror. The graffiti-like text, often included in his canvases, is buried, covered and hidden behind fields of colour though present nonetheless. These painterly acts function as both an attempt to exorcise, re-appropriate and control intimidating messages that trigger fear or trauma, while also displaying protective and healing properties of text, painting and colour.

If the large-scale works in the exhibition constitute a direct reference to civil unrest, the smaller format paintings Chico, Pola and Manzana reference a somewhat more recent exploration and effort for the artist to reference a disparate range of source imagery tied to Colombian culture in beer brands, local social culture, alongside corporate and DIY advertising that also adorns his native architecture. These canvases, set in vivid and realistic hues, delve into the artist’s lived experience in Colombia while setting an exacting agenda for negotiating place, memory, and trauma in paint that is an exuberant engagement with the medium and a thoughtful account of place and the artist’s past.