SEBASTIAN RIFFO MONTENEGRO | ABSENCE

SEBASTIAN RIFFO MONTENEGRO | ABSENCE

Riffo Montenegro manages to veil the image and reveal meaning simultaneously, referencing socio-cultural icons that have historically shaped our unconscious discourse.

“Through these pictorial allegories, the work provokes in the viewer the need to unveil the image, discover and understand a new meaning, rethink, and awaken in the individual the free interpretation typical of the human condition.”

Sebastian Riffo Montenegro lives and works in Chile. His unique contemporary works combine various fields, including painting, photography, 3D modeling, digital art, NFT, and street art.
In his figurative unique artistic style, he creates faceless figures in trench coats maneuvering across deconstructed backgrounds of color. He works with a selective palette and controlled lighting to create veils of lucid colors and mysterious shapes.
In his work, absence is a common idea. He aims to present an explicit critique of social customs and the creation of social beliefs such as religion, fashion, consumerism, the state, borders, the digitization of life, and the excessive desire for success and power.

Riffo Montenegro aims to express his point of you on the current cultural reality: Beliefs surrounding us cover and submerge us, eventually designing and preventing our capacity and right to free will.

Riffo Montenegro manages to veil the image and reveal meaning simultaneously, referencing socio-cultural icons that have historically shaped our unconscious discourse. Through these pictorial allegories, the work provokes in the viewer the need to unveil the image, discover and understand a new meaning, rethink, and awaken in the individual the free interpretation typical of the human condition.

Riffo Montenegro’s work has been exhibited extensively worldwide since 2015 in respectable galleries and art fairs; just in the past two years, he has exhibited at countless exhibitions and fairs in the US, such as at the Artplex Gallery in LA, Gallery Weekend STGO in LA, Artplex Gallery in LA, GR Gallery in NYC, The ARX Gallery in London, Palm Beach Modern, Context Art and Art Wynwood Art Fairs in Miami FL.

“I am profoundly interested in various styles and artists, from the great masters to contemporary artists, muralist digital artists, etc. But the philosophical idea behind my works comes from the concern of criticism of the current social customs such as religion, fashion, consumerism, and the excessive desire for success and power. Beliefs surrounding us cover us and degrade our capacity and right to free will.“

Getting To Know: Sebastian Riffo Montenegro

Art Market Magazine: Please share the background of your artistic journey. Did you grow up in a creative environment? What led you into the contemporary art field as a professional artist?

Sebastian Riffo: Since childhood, I have been deeply interested in art. I took some art classes in my youth, but it was not until seven years ago that, after working for over fifteen years in design and advertising for different marketing agencies, I decided to leave the stability of my job and exclusively dedicate my life solely to creating art.
My design and advertising experience has helped me develop my artistic style, which is precisely a criticism of the market for which I have worked for so many years.

Art Market Magazine: Where your inspiration comes from? Would you say that your art is influenced by other artists or a specific art field?

Sebastian Riffo: My inspiration comes from different worlds; visually, it comes from the art world. I am profoundly interested in various styles and artists, from the great masters to contemporary artists, muralist digital artists, etc. But the philosophical idea behind my works comes from the concern of criticism of the current social customs such as religion, fashion, consumerism, and the excessive desire for success and power. Beliefs surrounding us cover us and degrade our capacity and right to free will.

“The artist is a creator of expressions, ideas, and realities, who reflects on human events, making a call for the awakening of the viewer’s conscience, giving him his emotions and his ideology. It is increasingly important that art has content and generates reflection in order not only to be a mere aesthetic instrument but to become an agent of change focused on helping to solve the most critical problems of our time.”

Art Market Magazine: Let’s talk about your unique technique. Please tell us about the entire work process, from the step of the idea until the final outcome.

Sebastian Riffo: Each artwork is being thought and developed first as a digital sketch through a composition that mixes photographs, flat colors, graffiti, and in some opportunities, also 3D elements, which I designed in a 3D modeling software. After deciding how the work will be based on observing these digital creations for a couple of weeks, in which I also add or subtract elements until I am satisfied with the idea, I go on to reproduce the image on the canvas, using fundamental materials such as acrylic paint and aerosol.

Art Market Magazine: From your personal journey in the art field, what will be your advice to the young artist looking for a way of development?

Sebastian Riffo: The artist is a creator of expressions, ideas, and realities, who reflects on human events, making a call for the awakening of the viewer’s conscience, giving him his emotions and his ideology. It is increasingly important that art has content and generates reflection in order not only to be a mere aesthetic instrument but to become an agent of change focused on helping to solve the most critical problems of our time.

Art Market Magazine: What’s the future hold? Any special exhibitions in the upcoming months?

Sebastian Riffo: For now, I am focused on continuing my work without worrying about the following exhibitions; I am working on a new solo show for next year and defining some participation in art fairs with different galleries in Miami and Europe.

See the full article in Art Market Magazine Issue #82