Amansalva

At the turn of the millennium, 22-year-old Costa Rican artist Federico Herrero was hanging his works from trees in downtown San José. In 2001, he was awarded the prestigious Golden Lion Prize at the Venice Biennale, and was subsequently hailed as one of the most exciting contemporary artists to emerge from Central America. A painter at heart, he rejoices in basic act of applying pigment to flat surfaces – be they walls, windows or canvases. Executed in 2014, Amansalva exemplifies his vibrant abstract language, born at the intersection of urban chaos and tropical jungle that characterises his homeland. Organic interlocking forms evoke the city’s archaic Spanish grid model, whilst their dispersion towards the outer reaches of the canvas conjure the sprawling suburbs, flanked by distant mountains and forests. Bold and arresting, Herrero’s works capture the sensory vitality of the metropolis, extending the lineage of Colour Field painting and the Mexican muralists, as well as representing a new chapter in the story of contemporary street art.