A DYNAMIC SPIRIT OF ART: SEBASTIÁN BOESMI CHAGRA. DIARIO ABC, ASUNCION, PARAGUAY 2023
Characterized by a profusion of highly personal images and colors, Sebastián Boesmi's work shines wherever it goes. Having lived in Europe for several years, he tells us about his latest projects.
BY ALBA ACOSTA
Sebastián Boesmi Chagra ( 41 years old) was born in Salta, Argentina, but moved to Paraguay when he was just 4 years old. He says he always had a dynamic spirit; with a long career in the visual arts, he made a space in the Visual Arts career at ISA (FADA-UNA). Halfway through his studies, he moved to New York for a year to study painting and be in contact with urban life and art, in which he always finds inspiration.
This desire to immerse herself in art, also through visits to museums and institutions where she could observe masterpieces and learn to project her own language—a language she continues to develop to this day by exploring its expressive possibilities—profoundly influenced her work. “But the bright lights of Times Square didn't seduce me, and I decided to return to Asunción in 2008 to finish university. In 2009, I received the Henri Matisse Prize from the French Embassy in Paraguay, and thanks to that opportunity, I moved to Paris, France, to the Cité Internationale des Arts artist residency, and at that moment my vision changed.”
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Boesmi recounts that it was there she began to understand artistic practice from a relational perspective. “I began to understand that we live in a world with shared ideas and a transversal condition; if I decided to illustrate that world that I began to see back then, I would do it very similarly to a map full of commercial flights and their connections or with an image similar to neurons and their axons.”
For the past 12 years, he has lived and worked in France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the USA. He currently resides in Madrid and has a studio two blocks from his home in the bohemian Malasaña neighborhood. He recently completed a Master's degree in Art Research and Creation at the Complutense University of Madrid. “I consider myself a prolific artist, and the habit of going to the studio has always been a part of my life. The people around me know the commitment and passion I have poured into my artistic practice since the beginning.”
Goal of constant exposures
“I’m interested in my life changing, and in my way of expressing myself,” she states. Tireless, she makes it a point to hold each exhibition. “My last solo exhibition was Life After in Asunción in 2019, and I decided I didn’t want to exhibit in 2020, given the pandemic and the restrictions we were under. But in 2021, I started exhibiting collectively in Madrid.”
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In Asunción, he recently participated in The Persistence of the Sensible , an exhibition by members of the Avispa network (Visual Artists of Paraguay Associated) at the Juan de Salazar Cultural Center, and in exhibitions of the Mendonca Collection such as Counterpoints at the Museum of Fine Arts of Asunción, Exile at the CAV Museum of Clay, and Life is Brief at the Citibank Cultural Center within the framework of Pinta Sur, so his presence within Paraguayan art is always active.
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“I also collaborated with Gideon Raff’s new series Now and Then on the Apple TV platform, and my works appear in the series’ episodes thanks to a proposal from a production company in Madrid,” he says.
Last October he presented a solo exhibition at the Fuga Villa Morra art gallery in Asunción, featuring paintings, drawings and neon sculptures.
He also mentions that he has been working for over a year on a sculpture project featuring a character he calls "Piano Toro." It will consist of five series, each with 22 pieces in different colors, made of resin with an electrolytic plating finish, and will be released by the end of the year. "It's a long process, and all the characters are first modeled in 3D, and the production process has several stages," he says. He also mentions that he was invited to the "Blue Cactus" art residency in Spain in 2023, a residency in a natural setting in Catalonia, where he will create large-format works and explore new technical approaches.
Making a living from art
A common saying in our society is that you can't make a living from art. "The simple fact of being able to sit down every day in a university art program is already a triumph in itself. It's a personal triumph," says Boesmi, who includes as key elements using the time and systematization of art learning provided by the Academy to develop a personal language and discourse, broaden one's references and recognize them, and above all, be original.
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“Production isn’t just about what’s material and made by hand. Art must consider everything external to it.” “Move around a lot; art is everywhere, even though it’s fleeting,” is what I would say to those beginning their journey into the wonderful world of visual creations.
More info
Instagram @boesmi_art
Website: www.sebastian_boesmi.com
Orders: boesmiart@gmail.com
