It is by now common knowledge that art has been nourishing itself of the past for centuries, making reference to the works of previous artists. A reference meant to learn from those works and to compete with them, in a constant counterpoint that combines the established and the unexplored, tradition versus innovation. Daniel Mena's work exceeds the limits of the term "quotation" if we agree that its meaning implies the referral to the work of another artist. His work enters the territories of pastiche and appropriation, contemporary strategies that find their first representatives within the art of the Eighties in North America, and which persist today.

Daniel Mena's paintings propose a parodic quote to North American pop art, simulating the appearance of a technique of mechanical reproduction (silkscreen), by means of a manual technique (painting). In this way painting again takes on its false character, once more becoming surface and placing itself in a subordinated position in relation to the image. Under this operation of make-up, common images pertaining both to personal and global iconography are represented simulating "the attractive" way in which the human figure and its objects of use appear in mass media. What matters in the end is no longer the referential subject, but the way in which it reflects a visual stereotype - in itself a substitute for pop icons - modeled according to the public fantasy of fame and stardom.

The subject is thus located at the same level of consumer goods, asserting society's obsession with materialism, governed by appearances and appealing facades. The Latin American identity is weakened, its own self-worth diminished as it is confronted by North American cultural colonialism and its world-view. A world-view that assigns excessive value to beauty, money and success. Having assimilated elements of American culture in such vast amounts, it is extremely difficult to define a solid national identity without resorting to the springtime spirit of national holidays. By means of appropriation, a variety of elements are combined and rearranged and distanced of their initial meaning. In this way, the image - like the text - is understood like a polisemic weave of codes where what matters is not the creative, original and unique act, but the actions of selecting, choosing and combining. This results in a sort of parodic-pastiche of appropriations, rich in multicultural icons delivered through globalization, which acquires meaning in the act of bringing back to the public at least a fraction of that which it initially absorbed from the mediated reality in which we live.

more about his work...
Text by Arturo Duclos / renowned chilean artist
Text by Carolina Carrasco / NY curator
Text by Lydia Bendersky / Director of Cultural Programs, Organization of American States
Text by Jessica Dawson / Art Critic for The Washington Post