We are very happy to present Santiago Evans Canales' first solo show in Paris entitled "A Gawking Fixation".
Santiago Evans Canales (B. 1996, Mexico City) lives and works in Antwerp.
Santiago Evans Canales takes inspiration from the autobiographical as well as historical and fictional references that have brought a sense of wonder throughout his life. The work stands parallel to the constant change in his personal life and is an attempt to always maintain the childlike wonder and imagination. Borrowing from his childhood memories as his grandmother’s dog, the lush landscape of Mexico or daily life with his girlfriend, Canales’ works plunge us in a dreamlike and immersive world.
Santiago Evans Canales usually paints on giant pieces of paper and develops a very personal technique, using the directness of paper in his vivid compositions. It challenges him with different decisions throughout the process, from the way he cuts the paper before starting, to the dryness and texture of the first paint marks, allowing him various ways to develop the image.
The images become a kind of still from a movie showing a glimpse of the landscapes, interiors, and characters in his drawings. Canales’ practice also includes animation. It pervades his painting that may sometimes look like the storyboard of the story he is telling through one series.
The painting on paper opens a window on this giant paper uncoiling on the floor, and reminds us its first definition as a window through which a viewer perceives a world.
© Grégory Copitet
