Juan Pablo Chipe, born in 1980 in Culiacán Sinaloa Mexico, grew up in the border cities of Nogales Sonora (Mexico) and Nogales Arizona (USA). In 2005 he settled in Madrid (Spain) and from his studio in Plaza de los Mostenses (Madrid), his base camp, he worked on several visual arts projects, developing some artistic disciplines in all of them, such as sculpture, assembly, installation, painting, illustration, collage, 2D animation and video. The general theme of Chipe’s work is the revaluation of everyday cultural waste in which, through recyclable and recycled materials (objects and images) they form the plastic and visual pieces of his projects. He is currently working on eight projects simultaneously, La Escultura (the sculputure) is one of them, which tries to make one of the border identities (Mexico / USA) known to the world through some fiberglass sculptures, also as visual support, has developed a series of A3 collages created with recycled materials based on the image of the sculpture piece.
La Escultura
He has been able to participate in several international visual arts projects, collective and individual, such as the 1st International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Arad, Romania. Iª Guarulhos International Small Format Biennial, Sao Paulo, Brazil. 18th, 19th, 20th. and 22nd. International Biennale petit format de papier, Nismes, Belgium. 5th. International Printmaking Triennial, Belgrade, Serbia. Salón de Estandartes (ES2008), Tijuana, Mexico. In several editions of the International Mini Print of Cadaques, Cadaqués, Spain. And the 60th Edition of the Venice Biennale (Italy).
It has more than 300 group and solo exhibitions in: Mexico, United States, Canada, Cuba, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, France, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Turkey, Romania, Lithuania, Croatia, Japan, Serbia, Egypt, Israel and China.
Lost in Memory Shortfilm (frames) Swatch Art Peace Hotel, 2023, Shanghai, China
What are the biggest challenges you have met in your career?
There have been several important challenges that I have had to face during all these years in my career in the visual arts, the first has been leaving a small border city between Mexico and the US in which I grew up and settling in Madrid (Spain), try to survive and develop my visual arts projects in Europe and make a place for myself in contemporary creation. Another big challenge that I face every day is to stay current in my art projects, not give up, keep going !!! An example of all my work and effort over all these years is my current participation in the 60th edition of the international art exhibition at the Venice Biennale, Venece (Italy), within the SWATCH FACES 2024 project at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai (China), where I present to the world “La Escultura” (the sculpture) a public art project that I am developing along the entire border between Mexico and the US, which makes known one of the border identities with which I feel identified.
Lost in Memory Shortfilm (frames) Swatch Art Peace Hotel, 2023, Shanghai, China
How was your passion for art born?
Since I was a child, preferring art materials instead of toys, preferring to go see an art exhibition instead of going to a mall shopping center. I believe that creators are born with the need to feed ourselves visually through artistic disciplines. In my case, by dedicating myself to the visual arts, I have had a wide range of visual supplies. The Western pop culture of the 80s and 90s were decisive in establishing the passion for art in me.
Burning House – Visual arts project, acrylic painting 2019, Madrid Spain
What is your main source of inspiration?
The motivation for my creations comes from some problems that mass social and cultural phenomena create within the lives of various groups of people, phenomena that have shaped world history and especially the modern world. Sources of inspiration: Advertising, Graphic design, Cinema, Fashion, architecture, pop music, fast food, etc.
Burka POP – Visual arts project, mixed media (collage and acrylic painting) 2017, Madrid Spain
What does art mean to you?
It is a way of life, a very intense one, full of ups and downs and strong feelings. On many occasions it could be a lifetime of a music video.
Artist’s studio (portrait) at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, China 2023