Graphic exhibition “Why do I draw other people’s dreams?” – 2024-08-30 03:01:39 – 2024-08-30 03:03:44 – 2024-08-30 03:05:47

Graphic exhibition “Why do I draw other people’s dreams?”

• Balmaceda Young Art, President Balmaceda Avenue 1215, Cal y Canto Metro Station.
• Opening: Thursday, August 29 – 6:30 p.m.

“Why do I draw other people’s dreams?” is the name of the graphic exhibition by visual artist Simón Catalán. The story tells the life of Gato, a bold character whose adventures will take the audience through dreamlike passages and scenes tinged with longing.

The exhibition, which brings together original paintings, drawings and sketches, is based on the artist’s graphic novel of the same name, composed of four chapters and illustrated between 2020 and 2023. Initially, Catalán conceived it in digital format, but over time it mutated into a collector’s edition, adding pages and elements that give the publication a unique character.

The story follows Gato, who is responsible for guiding readers on his adventures in portraying people’s subconscious, without leaving aside his work as a cartoonist. Based on questions and reflections, this curious character travels through dreams, there, in the middle of fantastic landscapes, surrounded by forests, rivers, deserts and mountains, he meets enigmatic personalities who do not hesitate to test him as a true hero of a film script.

The Cat Archetype

Gato, who is the driving force behind the story, was born in the middle of the pandemic, when Catalán was drawing lines on paper. “At first I had the image of a cartoonist, a child, a young person or an adult who portrayed dreams. Why did he draw dreams? Because, deep down, the images he created were in this theme of the dreamlike, the surreal, of what goes beyond the everyday, of his own images,” explains the author. And he adds: “the creation of this character was related to how he could approach the subject of creation in a broad way, whether visual, literary, etc.”

Under this slogan, the novel that will be reissued and published by the Casa en Blanco publishing house during the second half of the year, and which is financed by the National Fund for the Promotion of Books and Reading, call for 2024, is a call to the imminent need to build universes. “I don’t know if in this society the ability to create or dream has been lost, but evidently in our childhood we have a greater connection with that, there are fewer obstacles, fewer barriers with our creative field,” says Catalán after emphasizing the archetype of Gato and its role in the story by inviting us to dream.

“I think that creative activities awaken those cognitive abilities that allow us to create connections, imagine new things, create new bonds and relate them to the world,” she says.

The exhibition “Why do I draw other people’s dreams?” is free of charge. You can find more details about this activity and the rest of the programme at www.balmacedartejoven.cl.

About the artist

Simón Catalán is a visual artist and educator, with a degree in Art from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and a Master’s degree in Art with a specialization in Visual Arts from the University of Chile. His work covers the disciplines of drawing, engraving, illustration and comics. Throughout his career he has exhibited both collectively and individually in different museums and galleries, such as Matucana 100, Galería D21, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Quinta Normal and Balmaceda Arte Joven, among other institutions.