Studio Visit: Javier Calvo

For Javier Calvo art is not made but happens, and that can make for an opportunity similar to what Bardeau calls a promise. His concerns revolve around myths that in one way or another have repercussions in our day-to-day lives, in how we observe, perceive ourselves or imagine ourselves. Contemporary art enables him to take a critical stance, but also address that which is urgent for him, policies that dehumanize us and are established through the collective.

Thoughts

Thoughts

His work evokes a certain nostalgia, showing the inevitable impact of the fall, the defeats, the sadness, influencing the way in which we face and perceive things and life, succumbing to archetypes. In some of his works he takes advantage of the literal to insert commentary; Javier uses declaration as a strategy.

He is interested in the critical ferocity of contemporary art but also in its potential to remember how good we can be. He believes in the political capacity of art, constructing spaces that allow us to imagine from elsewhere, whether that be from a position of longing, or wanting to become, or utopia, not fearful to include hopefulness.

Information

Information

Javier Calvo was born in 1981 in San José. He lives and works in San Ramon de Tres Ríos, Costa Rica. Learn more about Calvo on the web, or Instagram, or contact him by e-mail.

Javier Calvo is the recipient of the 2018 Random Institute Travel Award.

Javier Calvo has had solo shows at MADC Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo de Costa Rica (San José), Galería Nacional (San José), Kiosko Galería (Santa Cruz de la Sierra), and Réunion (San José). His works have been on display at LAXART (Los Angeles), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Sies + Höke (Düsseldorf), Despacio (San José), Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam (Havana), Teor/éTica (San José), Bienal de Curitiba (Curitiba), Bienal de Pontevedra (Pontevedra), Central American Biennial (Limón), and Bienal Internacional de Asunción (Asunción). He won the Random Institute Travel Award, the Salón Nacional art prize at the Museo de Arte Costarricense and the National Award J. Aquileo Echeverrí.