Yo-Yo Gonthier
Yo-Yo Gonthier is a visual artist and musician with a background in photography and drawing. He was born in 1974 in Niamey, Niger. He lives and works in the Pyrenees, France.
His artistic work consists of a tasty combination of the real and the dreamlike, where the contemplative function of art is tinged with a political dimension that opens the way to reflections on themes such as memory, the role of the artist in society, or historical objects such as colonisation. The Talking Cloud illustrates these dichotomies: following in the footsteps of the mad scientists and dreamers who were the pioneers of aviation, Yo-Yo Gonthier draws on the technology and ideas of figures such as Alberto Santos-Dumont, designer and pilot of some of the first airships at the end of the 19th century, to invent new forms of expression and communication in accordance with our times and its challenges.
His work has been exhibited in numerous museums and festivals in France and abroad: from the Centre Pompidou, to the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, the Dakar Biennale, the Lianzhou International Photo Festival in Guangzhou, and the Rencontres africaines de la photographie in Bamako. His work can be found in several French collections, including those of Pierre Bergé, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain (FRAC) Occitanie, the Centre National de l'Impression et de l'Art Print, and the Musée Maritime National. Since 2011, he has been building collective and participatory projects. In 2018, at the Grand Palais in Paris, the project La cour (The Court) and the film Une éclaircie (A ray of sunshine) were selected for the international Paris Photo fair. In 2022, he exhibited at the MOAD, Museum Of African Diaspora in San Francisco, and his work entered the collections of the Frac Occitanie. In 2023, in the French region of Ariège, he begins the renovation of an old building to turn it into a place of personal and collective poetic and political emancipation. The cloud project will be present at the Jeu de Paume, Paris in 2025.
Local artists
Sebastián Báez (Posadas, Misiones, 1977)
https://www.instagram.com/sebabaez77/
Sebastián Baez is a multidisciplinary artist whose work combines textiles and ceramics, merging ancestral knowledge with a contemporary perspective. He grew up in Candelaria, on the banks of the Paraná River, where the jungle and the mestizo culture of the triple border region shaped his childhood. He studied Medicine and Psychiatry, a discipline he currently practices at the Federal Penitentiary Service in Buenos Aires. His work encompasses embroidery and ñandutí weaving, a Paraguayan tradition he learned from a teacher, as well as ceramics inspired by Guaraní techniques preserved by a group of local women. Baez has exhibited his work in various shows, exploring themes of memory, time, and the connection between the ancestral and the contemporary.
Paula Casalderrey (San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, 1986)
https://www.instagram.com/paula.la.fea/
https://www.instagram.com/estudio.feo/
Paula Casalderrey is a multidisciplinary artist who has been based in Salta since 2004, where she develops creative and artistic projects both for Argentina and the international scene. Her work spans art, design, and architecture, projecting imaginary universes and inhabitable sculptures that challenge the boundaries of what is possible. With a unique perspective, Casalderrey invents characters and personalities that engage the viewer through critique, humor, and tenderness.
Known as La Fea in the art world, she presents her works as a manifesto against the immobility of thought and the values established by the dominant standards of beauty. Through the concept of "ugliness," she reclaims the "ugly," presenting it not as imperfection but as a device of beauty. In her work, ugliness becomes a powerful tool to challenge traditional aesthetic norms and open up a space for reflection on the standards of beauty in contemporary society.
Javier Ferrante (Buenos Aires, 1983)
https://www.instagram.com/javier_ferrante/
Javier Ferrante is an artist specializing in drawing, known for depicting floating objects that convey a sense of lightness, creating an ethereal atmosphere. He studied at the Escuela de Artes Visuales Martín A. Malharro, where he graduated as a Technical Illustrator in 2011. His first solo exhibition took place in 2017 at the Fundación ICBC. Ferrante has participated in numerous group shows, including at the Centro de Estudios de Arte Cromos, the Quimera Gallery, and in the “Cuadernos de Artistas” project at the Argentine Consulate in New York. He has received awards and mentions, such as in the Salón de Artes Plásticas Manuel Belgrano. His work explores the tension between the abstract and the recognizable, inviting the viewer to question their perception and experience a sensory immersion that transcends traditional visual boundaries.
Pedro Montes de Oca (Buenos Aires, 2000)
https://www.instagram.com/pedro.mmoca/
Pedro Montes de Oca is a musician and educator. A graduate of the conservatory, his training spans a variety of artistic, academic, and professional contexts, shaping him as a percussionist, performer, and individual. He has participated in significant projects, including Ballet Mechanique at the Teatro Colón, Un fruscìo lungo trent'anni at Fundación Proa, and as a soloist with the Orquesta de Tango at the Conservatorio Manuel de Falla. He also created the intervention Dolor ajeno at the Museo Larreta. With an experimental approach and deep sensitivity, his work explores a wide range of genres and expressions, always seeking a deeper connection with his surroundings.
Yhomara Muñoz (Sucre, 1989)
https://www.instagram.com/yhomara_m/
Yhomara Muñoz is a Bolivian visual artist based in Buenos Aires since 2017. She studied architecture and visual arts in La Paz, where she began her artistic career. In Argentina, she specialized in interior space design, marking a turning point in her work. Combining architecture with digital arts, Muñoz creates utopian fantasies rooted in pre-Hispanic cultural heritage. Her imagery is linked to the realms of fantasy, dreams, and magic, carrying a profound meaning that invites reflection on the future from a perspective of the past. She has participated in numerous national and international exhibitions in countries such as Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Juan Carlos Urrutia (San Felipe, 1981)
https://www.instagram.com/juan.carlos_urrutia/
Juan Carlos Urrutia is a Venezuelan artist, curator, researcher, and cultural mediator based in Buenos Aires since 2010. His artistic practice delves into the concept of affective geography as a trans-territorial unit that addresses environmental, migratory, and historical issues within the cultural reality of Latin America. He works on creating exhibition devices, curating shows, and designing artistic-community experiences and programs. Urrutia is trained in Graphic Design, Visual Arts, Combined Artistic Languages, Intangible Cultural Heritage Management, and Exhibition Space Design. He has coordinated the Nómade Cultural Center at Fundación Proa, the Nuevas Audiencias program in alliance with CTBA-IVC, and the Plastic Experimentation Laboratory for Schools Oholey Jinuj Jabad.