“chimera”
Moncho 1929 has been producing work under the radar from the prying and commodifying eyes of the arts industry, yet stunning his growing audiences internationally.
As the pandemic forced the world indoors, Moncho 1929 used this time to explore, contemplate, and find new depths in his growing Chimera series and hallenge his audiences to reconcile with the dualities of contemporary life.
His intricate and awe-inspiring works abstract reality, forcing his viewers to question the ways we perceive the world around us.
The term chimera conjures images of mythological hybrid beings or scientific species where two opposing biologies exist in a singular being. Moncho 1929 toys with those conceptions to produce his peculiar combinations. What strikes the viewer first is the familiarity; they recognize a human figure, a horse body, the barrel of a gun. Then, confusion. Lost in a temporal entanglement, the wild west meets the industrial age with accompaniments by elements of modern life, the viewer witnesses one object seamlessly transition into another.
“ At first, the work may solicit a giggle, as they examine the fusion of a bicycle wheel conjoined to the body of a horse, but as they continue to examine, the humor imbued in the work gives way to recognition of the absurdity. ”
CH(i)M(e)RA
chi·me·ra
: an imaginary monster compounded of incongruous parts
: an illusion or fabrication of the mind
In Greek mythology, the Chimera was a three-headed, fire-breathing monster who terrorized the city of Lycia. In a second definition, the word also refers to an illusion, fabrication, or impossible wish. Painted in oil and acrylic, the Chimera series expands on both definitions by imagining what lies beyond the boundaries of reality.
Like a desert mirage, the Chimera works are meant to manifest, implausibly, before the viewer’s eyes. Each composition relies on opposing images to create a sense of visual magic within a self-contained space. Blending photorealistic imagery with abstract shapes and translucent colors, the Chimera works combine contrasting cultural narratives to create new stories and new conversations.
