Gonzalo Fuenmayor, Colombian artist, opens his exhibition Simulacros II this evening at 7 p.m. at the Galería Fernando Pradilla (Calle Claudio Coello, 20, Madrid).
For this reason, a press conference was held yesterday at the Colombian Embassy, with the presence of the ambassador Luis Guillermo Plata, in which they had the opportunity to get to know his two NFT’s: Happy Hour and God Bless Latin America (in the photo), produced by Block Art Ventures.
The simulacrum referred to in the title of the exhibition alludes to an imitation or simulation of a real event so that the necessary precautions or preparations can be taken in case it happens; an event staged in surreal images in which mystery and uncertainty play a key role in the relationship with the observer.
Throughout Fuenmayor’s creative process, the banana in all its manifestations (the fruit itself, the peel and the plantation) has become a vehicle for exploring the history and past of the communities linked to its production, becoming a pretext for investigating a slippery and ever-changing identity. This fruit has symbolised like no other the paradox of abundance and poverty, being both food for the population and the cause of the exploitation of the peasants on the plantations in what has come to be known as the “banana drama”. Fuenmayor’s work, influenced by various sources, is a reflection on the identity and socio-political conditions of developing countries such as Colombia. The artist seeks to combine in his works a narrative line where the decorative and the tragic come together in a discourse that borrows resources from literature, cinema and advertising.
