October, 1989
México
Chantal Meza is a self-taught painter living and working in the United Kingdom.
Her home environment placed her amongst many local stone Artisans whose unique regional skills date back to the pre-Hispanic period. With direct family participation Chantal has incorporated this knowledge into her paintings, including the direct use of hands as a medium of human sensorial creation. The crossover between the old artisan techniques and Chantal’s self-taught methods represents both a marriage and a visual memory of experience that allows her to connect the abstract with the tangibility of life.
Materials such as marble and onyx are seeded into Chantal’s subconscious memories and have been the base for the creation of her own natural abstract Self-scapes. Oils, stone, watercolours, charcoals and inks are some of the materials she has taken to focus on the human psyche as seen through the prism of colour.
She uses the ancient form of abstraction as the language that will gesture her concerns around the political-scientific sphere by observing the history of power within social constructs and its shifting relations. Her challenge as such remains how to express the abstract in thought by tapping into the complexity of the human condition.
Her works have been Exhibited in more than 30 group and Individual Exhibitions in prominent Museums and Galleries in Mexico, United Kingdom, Paraguay and Germany such as: Chiapas Museum of Science and Technology (Mexico), National Art Museum (Mexico), Centro Cultural Juan de Salazar (Paraguay) Museum of Modern Art (Mexico) CentreSpace Gallery (United Kingdom) Watercolour National Museum (Mexico) Arocena Museum (Coahuila) Karlstorbahnhof (Germany) Arroyo de la Plata Gallery (Zacatecas) Popular Art Museum (Mexico) MOMA Machynlleth (Wales) Guadalupe Museum (Zacatecas) Pape Museum (Cohauila) University Cultural Complex (Puebla) among others. She has also been commissioned to produce public works, interventions, while providing requested donations of works to institutions and non-governmental organisations. As part of the study of the subjects she is interested in she has delivered Lectures, Seminars and Panels at reputable places such as: Harvard University (USA), École Normale Superiéure (Paris), McMaster University (Canada), Goethe Universität (Germany), Centre for Mexican Studies (Ireland), Goldsmiths University (London) among others. She has written a number of academic articles in prominent theory, culture and educational practice journals, her first edited volume “State of Disappearance” was published by McGill Queens University Press.
Having presented her work in an individual curated exhibition at the age of 20, since then Chantal has encounter considerable acclaim. Her work has received the support of grants, public recognitions and awards of prominent institutions in the cultural sector, among her current achievements include a notable public recognition for her contribution to culture in her province in Mexico.
Her artwork appears in many prominent international outlets, books, digital and print magazines, including La Jornada, ArtLyst, Trebuchet, W&F Science & Peace, LA Review of Books, The Philosopher among others.
For Chantal 'the shape of the abstract senses' remains a primary concern, as it gestures to what remains within and yet seems ungraspable. In her work a constant realisation remains, that in which what we are is never enough, perhaps too unreal that most of our intended actions are kept in the realm of the imagination. Mindful of this, she is confronted with a dilemma; showing how an abstract sensibility is all we could fleetingly possess. In this regard, Chantal’s range of work offers visual dynamic confrontations, tapping into the complexity of the human condition. In a world dominated by Science and Technology, her paintings have become a mediation between the mystery and the unknown, letting her hands to become the bridge that transmits the inner most feelings to the external world.
@Karl Baker
As someone who believes in the art of life. Chantal co-creates in this world with her soulmate, the Political Philosopher Brad Evans, who inspires her to live as a constant explosion of shapes.