Elian Chali: Unexpected Plane

Walls rise up from the ground; they’re the faces of a large body, providing support and shelter from the elements.
They also serve as borders between outside and in, ones that enclose time in their layers, storing memories of the public, social and political life of a community. Walls both new and ancient, thin and thick, are surfaces with a face and profile, realities not devoid of mystery. They always contain the possibility that a new dimension might suddenly appear before us.

Having been invited by the Museo Moderno to re-conceive the façade of its main building, the Argentine artist Elián Chali (Córdoba, 1988) suggested a mural and, surprisingly, a new space emerges for the museum. Red, yellow and green waves flow across the 330 square metre área to open up an unexpected plane that, interestingly, was always there. With his distinctive combination of geometric imagery, minimal design and primary colours, this brilliant artist shines a new light on a surface that had been in shadow.

Chali’s art sets out to transform historical buildings, exploring their vitality and vigour. His practice draws on the tradition of urban art such as graffiti, which shapes his need to visually express rebellion against authority and undermine the official narratives that are often embodied by the walls of public buildings. His works seek to interrupt linear time, shaking up the apparent stability of constructions that only seem to grow more solid with each passing year. To do so, the artist employs an innocent, festive aesthetic that ensures that its political aspects don’t fall in the traditional canon of graphic protest. He takes his unique technique from city to city, providing experiences on the monumental scale, creating planes, reflections and reverberations that envelop bodies and things. The enormous scale of his artworks is a manifestation of his urgent need to challenge urban icons and thus the dominant voices of cities. Chali questions relationships of power by freeing up architectural narratives, especially those so rigid that they are in danger of excluding our community experience. With Chali, the Museo Moderno building
is temporarily changing its most visible profile and, in these difficult times, opens itself up to the San Telmo neighbourhood, expanding its role in society. The artist is looking to soften boundaries, facilitate coming together and celebrate playfulness. It may be his way of offering succour.

In his different areas of activity, streets, walls, institutions and disca activism – which encompasses an inclusive range of identities, corporalities and abilities – Chali rebels against

the established order of sensibility. Along the way he has made audacious choices about
resources that amplify his works’ strength, urgency and conviction. Like a tide of energy, primary colours explode, making everything around them tremble: abstraction softens planes, geometry channels the flow. Chali’s work defies the gravity of contemporary issues and reminds us that art can unlock the vital impetus we need to restore trust in institutions and communities. Unexpected Plane, at the Museo Moderno, is an invitation to imagine vibrant cities where ways of being in and sharing public space are distributed more generously.