Sigfredo Chacn began his studies at Caracas’ Escuela de Artes Plsticas Cristbal Rojas in 1963, but he left the institution in 1966, rebelling against its academic principles. He pursued studies in graphic design, at the Instituto de Diseo de la Fundacin Neumann (Caracas, 1966-1970) and at the Chelsea School of Art, and the London College of Printing (1972-1975). While living in London, he was exposed to the latest works of Abstract Expressionism, installation art and performance art. The series of drawings he began in England, Dibujos Parlantes, Colores Borrados and Cuadrculas Borradas (1974-1977), established a dialectic experience among the diverse elements of his work (drawing, color, texts, etc.). After he returned to Venezuela, he dedicated himself to graphic design.
His return to the artistic milieu of Venezuela was celebrated with two one-man shows in 1989 and 1990 at Sala RG (Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos Rmulo Gallegos, Caracas, 1989 and 1990). From this point on his painting was driven by the rational and methodical methods of graphic design. Among the works of this period were the series Pinturas Monocromas and Horror vacui, in which lines often formed nets, and the experimentation with pictorial materials and textures predominated. In general, and this characteristic has been valid throughout his life, he has produced a sort of autorreflexive painting, his main subjects being his own elements and methods.
At the beginning of the 90s, Chacn undertook work in the medium of the installation, first in an exhibition presented together with Oscar Machado (Sala Mendoza, Caracas, 1992) and afterwards in the collective CCS-10. Arte Venezolano Actual (Galera de Arte Nacional, Caracas, 1993). For this show and for his individual exhibition presented at the Galera Namia Mondolfi (Caracas, 1993), he produced Rejillas Camufladas, works in which the linear net gained solidity and it became the support of a dense accumulation of dripped paint.
A revision of his first drawings allowed him to the create Pinturas Parlantes, displayed at the Museo del Oeste Jacobo Borges (Caracas, 1995). In five series of large format works the random relations between word and color, and language and reality, were explored.
Chacn reflected on painting as a subject for his work during the second half of the 90s. He used resources from art history and adapted the ready-made incorporating animals (rats, flies, frogs, etc.) and fruits of made from synthetic material to his paintings, adding irony to their meta-pictorial abstraction. This can be seen in the series Crucigramaconmoscas and Pinturastropicales. The use of the ready-made inspired one of his more recent avenues of exploration, the ambiguity between original and the copy. Another reference to art history was the use of the dripping, a clear reference to the work of Jackson Pollock. His recent works including the series Purapinturaabstracta, Emotionalpainting and Do You Copy? , were presented at the Fundacin Corp Group Centro Cultural (Caracas, 2000) and the Perifrico Caracas Arte Contemporneo (Caracas, 2009).
Sigfredo Chacn lives and works in Miami and Caracas.
For more information visit www.sigfredochacon.com