Andrés
Felipe
castaño
aMERICAN FIST
2013
Engraving on melted cents of a dollar
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This is the name that was originally the object we now popular known as manopla or boxer in Latin America, which principally was a device used by the U.S. Navy in the early twentieth century in melee combat, then abandoned, but later adopted by criminal groups. Melting American coins in Mexico City makes this piece a commentary on the economic and the mechanisms of power between political control and emerging markets, and the desire of purchasing power and alternative processes converging on social problems. The phrase, American fist, was used by illegal groups related to the drug trade in Colombia in the 1980s and 1990s.
Project with the collaboration of SOMA Mexico.Exhibited at Ex-Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City, 2014.
The gunshot
2014
Lead, steel, felt, Persian rug (imitation) and HD video, color and sound, 12min35sec
The cymbal was born in cultures located in the Middle East; Ottoman culture developed the modern version of the cymbals in the fifteenth century for religious use, and linked to military activities. These instruments were brought into battle with to announce movements and, not surprisingly, the cymbals currently make primary part of the marching bands. This instrument has both its origin ligated to the war, and like all percussion instrument, it is activated by a hit.
The sound of a bullet is returned as an echo, its ephemeral as the wind and as quickly becomes invisible. The vestiges of a story are located in the foundations of another, which in principle it seems contradictory, but ultimately shown identical to its predecessor. This is the job of the weapon, as contradictory as the mentality that uses it becomes an action with known consequences; in a cycle it becomes destruction for organizing a creative act.
El plomazo is conceived as a sound piece, but the material from which it is made neutralizes the sound that this instrument can do. Each cymbal is made with lead from bullets (warheads) from different locations, both common criminals and security forces based in Mexico City and State of Mexico.