The Artist

SERGIO VILA

born in 1966 in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Sergio Vila, originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, processes influences from both abstract and figurative art in his works. He considers modern art to move along the border of these two poles: His images are neither purely naturalistic nor strictly geometric-abstract but always a mixture of both. 
Like many contemporary artists, he concerns himself with classical modernist masters but also mentions Bruce Nauman, Ed Ruscha, and Marcel Duchamp as sources of inspiration. In 1997, he traveled to the USA to study their original works in museums; he ended up staying for three years. This was a defining time for Vila who says that each of his works carries within a 'fragment' of the place where it was created.
During this period, in one of his best known groups of works, he graphically discusses the assassination of John F. Kennedy, using photographs and graphics from 1964's 'Time Magazine'. Vila uses the doubts about the circumstances of the assassination to alienate and edit the material so as to further stress the contradictions of the event. Through his own manipulations, he seeks to demonstrate the simplicity of changing images in order to pursue specific intentions. At the same time, Vila succeeds in making an individual analysis of an important event of the 20th century. 
As his father was a Spaniard, Vila soon felt the need to get to know his homeland. Via Barcelona and Madrid, he reached Figueres in the province of Girona: a place steeped in history from an artist's point of view, as it was the home of the surrealist Salvador Dalí.