Javier Piñón “O Babalon”

Javier Piñón is a Cuban American artist born in Miami, FL and raised in Huston, TX. He received his MA from Rhode Island School of Design. His work has been shown both internationally and internationally in shows including El Museo del Barrio’s Bienal and the Beijing Biennale. Piñón received a 2007 artist fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).

Javier Piñón’s work caught my attention because it is so different from other artist’s work. He places nude women in his collage’s whose backgrounds are of fantasy lands. His collages are unusual and mysterious but at the same time intriguing and beautiful. Some are more strange than others but are all made out of beautiful compositions and colors. A lot of his collages have naked nudes in nature settings with animals acting in strange ways. (The explanation is explained on the gallery’s web-site.) Even though this work might be beyond comprehension, it is still very interesting and appealing in a weird way. 

According to SierherSmith’s web-site “Javier Piñón’s 2010 exhibition of collages is built around depictions of the highly charged image of the earth goddess Babalon, her attendants, priestesses and their mystical terrain unfolding in a narrative of liberation, sensuality, death and rejuvenation.” He uses clips from mid-century magazines like Arizona highways and The Time Life Nature Library, a group of books, he studied as a child. In other works you see the use of cowboys, medusas, saints, and stacks of chairs, which are gruesome in some way but compelling non-the-less. Piñón is very distinct from other artists and has an astonishing style, this is some out of this world crazy art.

Javier Piñón’s most current exhibition “O Babalon” is taking place from October 14^th-November 13^th 2010 at ZieherSmith Inc. gallery located at 516 West 20^th St. New York, NY.