Gonzalo Papantonakis « gallery nine5

Selected Artworks

Gonzalo Papantonakis is a highly regarded Uruguayan artist living and working in Los Angeles. His dynamic and colorful works combine mixed media, rich imagery, and an expressionistic handling of form and line. Papantonakis’ innovative approach to composition and assemblage continues from that of the Neo-Dadaists, particularly Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. Forging a new visual language, the artist’s powerful, multi-dimensional installations are comprised of a staggering range of media and frequently extend onto multiple canvases and panels. He has completed commissions for Pepsi and the Thompson Hotel (60 Thompson) in New York City.

Gonzalo Papantonakis weaves the written word, disparate objects and abstract images together in energetic installations that re-imagine pictorial surfaces. Having traveled extensively, Papantonakis’ global experiences are reflected in the themes of communication and language. Self‐taught, the artist draws inspiration from a wide range of sources, many of which are musicians and composers.

His most recent exhibition at gallery nine5 marked a vital point in the artist’s career, heralding both an expansion into a broader repertoire of media and the emergence of an even greater sophistication with which he explores the influences and motifs present since his earliest artistic explorations.

Papantonakis repeats images obsessively. Flora, images of childhood, and musical elements recur with near compulsive frequency throughout the artist’s oeuvre. The species of flower used in his motifs often varies from series to series, however one finds constancy in the freeform manner in which they are depicted. Papantonakis’ latest works are strewn with images of roses, however they appear alongside what is almost a catalog of flowers drawn from the artist’s previous pieces.

Evocations of childhood are found throughout Papantonakis’ canvases in the recurrence of images such as bike helmets, ballerinas and video-game controllers. Many works incorporate collage and a rough handling of form, which communicates a sense of youthful spontaneity.

Music’s ability to affect a wide range of emotions and its capacity to unify disparate elements and tonal colors into an overarching harmonic scheme has been a long-standing source of inspiration for Papantonakis. This influence manifests itself in the artist’s current series in various ways: through the incorporation of sheet music into collages, the application of musical terms, and recurring images of instruments and notions of performance.

Based in Los Angeles, Papantonakis spent his childhood between Uruguay and Argentina before traveling extensively within Europe and the United States. The artist’s work is held in prestigious collections throughout Europe, the United States, Latin America, Australia and Asia. Papantonakis has also completed numerous site-specific works including a monumental installation at the Thompson Hotel (Thom Bar) in New York City.