In the works of Gabriel Chaile (Tucumán, 1985) there is a critical-poetical intersection between anthropology, the sacred and its rituals, the political, and pre-Columbian communities of South America, interpreted artistically and with certain eccentricity and sense of humor. Gabriel carries out his anthropological and visual research beginning from two key concepts that are present all across the body of his oeuvre. These are the engineering of need, consisting on creating objects and structures from art that collaborate in improving the conditions of a certain borderline situation; and the genealogy of shape, which implies acknowledging that every object in its historical repetition provides a story to tell, that is recovered and updated in relation to the new context. The artist utilizes both axioms to make sculptures, do paintings, and build big scale installations that allow several communities overshadowed by history and power structures to gain visibility and have a voice. Gabriel acts like a visual anthropologist: he studies his surrounding context, deconstructs it in new morphologies, charges it with new meaning and throws it into the world in the form of objects and images inviting to reflect on the relation between each other.

His latest works include: The wind blows where it wishes, curated by Cecilia Alemani (High Line, New York, 2023), Time, Times, Half a Time (BARRO, New York, 2023), Where are the Heirs of these Forms? (De Singel. Amberes, 2022), Migrantes são bem-vindos (Kunsthalle Lissabon. Lisbon, 2022), The Milk of Dreams, curated by Cecilia Alemani (59th Venice Biennale, 2022), Anozero, curated by Elfi Turpin & Filipa Oliveira (Coimbra Biennial of Contemporary Art, Portugal, 2022), The Sowers, curated by Anissa Touati & Nathalie Guoit (Fondation Thalie, Brussels, 2021), Soft Water Hard Stone, curated by Margot Norton & Jamillah James (New Museum Triennal, New Museum, New York, 2021), Pés de Barro curated by Chús Martínez & Filipa Ramos (Galeria Municipal o Porto, Portugal, 2021), Esta canción ya tuvo aplausos (ChertLudde, Berlín 2019), Genealogía de la forma, curated by Andrea Fernández (Barro, Buenos Aires, 2019), Diego, curated by Cecilia Alemani (Art Basel Cities, Buenos Aires, 2018), Sonia (El ondulatorio, La Rioja, 2018), Proto, una película de Gabriel Chaile (Galería Ruby, Buenos Aires, 2017), Patricia, curated by Laura Hackel (Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, 2017), Mi nombre es legión porque somos muchos (Centro Cultural San Pablo T, Tucumán, 2016), No es mi culpa si viene del río (Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires 2015), Salir del surco al labrar la tierra, delirios de grandeza II (Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires, 2014). Chaile has participated in art fairs such as Art Basel (Basilea), The Armory Show (New York) arteBA (Buenos Aires) and Art Basel Miami Beach (Miami). He has been part of many collective exhibitions in Tucumán, Lima, Montevideo, Paris, Cuenca and Buenos Aires and in 2019 he participated in Bienal de Arte Joven (CCRecoleta, Buenos Aires, 2019), BienalSur curated by Leandro Martinez Depetris (EAC, Montevideo, 2019) and “The last supper” in Faena Festival (Miami Beach). He lives and works between Buenos Aires and Lisbon.

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