Materiality, Metaphors, and Opposites

"I like to think in forms. I love hybrids and syncretism. I imagine this work as a big cross.”  In La Chola Poblete’s installation, opposites collide: the hard and metallic nature of the ornate metal spear, the poetic and aqueous essence of the watercolors, the pliability of the bread associated with warmth and nourishment. At the same time, allusions to various religions and rituals flow into the work; spirituality, violence, and sexuality manifest themselves in myriad ways.

In Roman Catholic theology, the term “transubstantiation” signifies the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ during the Holy Mass. In a similar vein, the installation takes up the Christian symbols of the cross and bread, interwoven by La Chola with her own mystical imagery. This creation mirrors a process encompassing the spiritual and the corporeal, entwining art with life, metamorphosis with inner harmony.

The spear on which the drawings and bread masks are suspended is reminiscent of the instruments of torture employed during the Inquisition—an aspect frequently addressed by La Chola Poblete in her installations and exhibitions. It symbolizes the wounds inflicted by religious and ideological oppression while simultaneously standing for resistance, for the determination and radicality with which the artist opposes conventional notions of body, gender, identity and "race.“  She says: “I want to be everything I want to be, and nothing of what I am told I am.” The spear can thus be imagined as a static, rigid structure giving rise to a burgeoning, adaptable vitality that recalls alchemical processes. 

She goes on: "Anyone can cover their face to avoid being recognized, take on the appearance of another person or engage in certain theatrical or ritual activities." For her, masks are an expression of performativity and malleable identity. The artist makes wire forms for the masks, which are then covered in bread dough, modeled, and baked. She draws a parallel between the act of breadmaking and watercolor painting, noting, "When I form a mask out of bread or work with flowing watercolors, both go their own irreversible way. On the one hand, the dough takes on different shades depending on how long it stays in the oven. It changes shape, rises, cracks, and burns. Similarly, the watercolor distorts the drawing, mixing with other stains and splashes to create new forms. I feel there is something performative about these materials, they are changeable, they flow.” 

The watercolors also encapsulate the notion of an ever-changing identity: phallic or skeletal forms, appendages, countenances, and blood vessels emerge from the aqueous paints. Dancing, non-binary figures in high heels appear again and again—genderless bodies that melt or deform. These figures are intertwined with the essence of queer ballroom culture as well as ritualistic dance.  Simultaneously, the canvases introduce a fresh compositional component to La Chola Poblete's paintings in the form of camouflage squares. They reference Andy Warhol’s renowned camouflage self-portraits, but also the idea of camouflage itself, the notion of undermining, the militancy of an identity that is not transparent, artistic, or sexual.