Another Fine Mess Welcomes Alexander Medel Calderón
Poppy, punchy, playful and irreverent; designer and illustrator Alexander Medel Calderón makes imagery for a millennial generation. The Santiago-based artist takes symbols from contemporary culture – bold, Word Art-esque typography and the European Union's omnipresent circle of golden stars, for example – and injects them with a bold and cheeky disdain to create a graphic language which is at once retro and defiantly modern.
Succulents fall from the sky; anthropomorphised circles and squares gaze confusedly at one another; bubbles burst, clouds drizzle, shapes stack Tetris-like in these curious compositions. Are those matches or drumsticks? Is that a mountain range or a heap of cocaine, forming a silhouette against a pale pink sky? Where does that ladder lead?
There aren't any answers, of course, but the absence of a narrative is part and parcel of Medel's candid and cocksure visual communication. One thing's for sure – there's not an artist out there who could do more to distill digital drama down into a smart, hilariously rude and strangely satisfying series, with little more than a primary palette, a scattering of circles and triangles, and a generous handful of impudence.
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