What’s the relation between jail graffiti and cavemen’s paintings? What pieces of advice can be useful both in the real life and in a life that has been totally deprived of freedom? What do convicts wish the most in addition to their being released? What’s the similarity between art and crime? Panamanian artist Jhafis Quintero asks and answers these questions and many others by means of his first solo show in Spain: ‘Cambalache’, which in jail talk stands for “daily life in prison”.
The 10-year-long jail experience in Costa Rica plays the leading role in this display ? to be showcased at Sabrina Amrani Gallery in Madrid, April 23 to May 31 ?. His artistic practice comes out of personal experiences in the world of imprisonment, exclusion, silence, insecurity and solitude, but also imagination and creation aimed at the search of sustenance means.
The Panamanian artist is capable of creating escapist structures with enough lucidity while he features an ironic and even humoristic perspective that stops him from falling into misery and self-pity. Jhafis Quintero’s creative power lies on the fundamental transformation of a personal experience into a universal one, and the power of that conversion. Jhafis Quintero’s art is not about prison as such, but about life.
Source: Press release
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