DANIEL & HIS GIRLS (translation by Lydia Bendersky)

Daniel Mena´s paintings are joyful, somewhat sarcastic, aggressive comments on reality, an officious investigation for his study on contemporary life. On one occasion, Daniel Mena explained to me the pop origin of his paintings; however, now that I reflect back on his explanation, I believe that their genesis lies in the psychedelic culture of the seventies and in the rampant joy that surrounds them. Behind his naïve images I see cheerful, smiling characters suspended in a fictional space where they comment about each other as if they were part of the same story.

With the exception of the soldiers and the gunmen, whose imagery allude more to their origin as action figures, his other paintings remind us of "The Party", the famous Peter Sellers film where martinis and glam flowed alongside the shenanigans of the protagonist, who makes us laugh constantly. Still, beyond the partying and the joy these paintings outline, it is worth asking about this involved exploration which our artist embarks on.

It has been suggested that the parodist character of these paintings veer toward pop, a statement which I intend to question, since our society has been permanently immersed in this same spirit, ever since pop culture established itself, and continues to be in good health. Pop art has been visible since its inception 50 years ago, when it was first conceived by North American artists; the interesting aspect in Daniel Mena's work, then, lies in how he reformulates pop. Without a doubt, he follows the established codes he learned through his years of research and study, which explains his recycling of solid colors and no modeling, which allude to the graphics seen in comic strips, etc. Such factors all point towards the perfect formula for pop. Yet I have to wonder, where are the references to local pop? Where are the soccer players, the pop singers, the celebrities, showbiz, and the objects of local consumption? The question is obvious, yet my intent is not to disarm our artist, but rather to reclassify his work as something else.

Resuming my initial ideas regarding this subjective study of Daniel Mena's project, I dare classify his work in the psychological realm, directly linked to his personal environment. Behind his sparkling paintings I see references to his history, his fantasies, and to psychedelic hallucinations; all symbolic environments in which he portrays himself as a pop star. It is precisely here, in the character of his self-narrative, where I'm most interested in focusing. It is clear that throughout art history, many artists, from Dürer to Warhol, have used the self-portrait as a springboard; not only to construct the stories of their own life, but also to inscribe in them, the psychological and sociological aspects of their existence. It is exactly this angle of Daniel Mena's production that stands out the most; how he plunges into his self-construction, how he walks through the unyielding loss of a memory in order to glamorously place it between op-art filigree and psychedelia, seeking to recreate a happy childhood using the design references of the seventies. Now the pending promise, the most strenuous task, is to inscribe this work in another category, because the specificity of pop seems futile when compared to the scope of Daniel Mena's proposal.

Arturo Duclos
Renowned Chilean Visual Artist
Director of UDD´s Art Faculty