Iván Puig

Ivan Puig Domene was born in 1977 in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico. He spent his first years between the streets of Guadalajara, the tropical jungle of Comala and the car junks in Tijuana, circumstances that where important for his further art production.

He did studies in electronics in Guadalajara and Fine Arts in Guanajuato. The techniques that Puig uses is not what determines his work since he jumps from one to another. The line that conects it all is the critical perspective and the humor present in his social enviroment observations. Indignation has been an important trigger in the election of the subjects he approaches to. In the last 7 years he has been working in the project SEFT-1 with his brother Andrés Padilla Domene.

He has been beneficiary of some grants and has received some awards. His work has been shown in Mexico and abroad. One of his actual concerns is the time consumming colateral activities related to the professionalisation of art such as writing biographies in third person.

Interview

Mexico City 24.01.2015

Bernard Vienat (BV).-Do you see art as a means for poetically changing people’s mentalities, as a potential driving force for ideological change?

Iván Puig (IP).- Many of my art pieces have been decidedly political, on the assumption that art can function as a catalyst and as a transforming element. Surely this becomes controversial, because this transformation happens often in very subtle, intangible, and unquantifiable levels. At times I doubt the efficiency of art for such purposes.

I have always tried to observe how each project works with the people involved in it and see if I could actually restore the confidence upon using political art as a tool for transformation. The results have been surprising in many cases. For example, the SEFT-1 project has shown tangible results. It has worked as a catalyst, and aroused discussions that have lead the people to make several social demands and carry on their own small fights for their right to transport, roads, etc. On the other hand the impact on the imaginary of those who have lived the project, especially outside the cities, even though it is not something measurable, I can say the project has moved many people. Poetic action has a very particular power. It is transformative in itself.

SEFT-1

Líder de Opinión

N 19°26'11.152" W 99°8'46.042"