A nude woman being courted by a centaur is the focal point, while other women and their respective chimères, here taken in the meaning of "fantasies" or "dreams," not only literally, fill out the piece. While still adhering to Neoclassical conventions of form, Moreau fills the canvas with creations of his own imagination. The scene, like many of Moreau's other pieces, is in nature –a forest-but filled with figures that blend with and complete the scenery. His work actively accentuates how the unique and unconventional features that make one stand out as different in reality make them truly remarkable.Executed on a 2.36m by 2.04m canvas, Les Chimères is in the Musée national Gustave Moreau at 14 Rue de La Rochefoucauld, Paris. Moncho 1929’s approach rejects these assumptions that something different makes it inferior. They can be viewed as dehumanized, with a need to keep them separate, marked as society’s “other’, just as so many populations and cultures today are marginalized, discredited, or seen as less than human in order to achieve political or social agendas. Even the figures that consist of human elements, lacking distinct facial features and combined with animal and man-made elements, become anonymous as they evolve into new beings. While they are awed by these creatures they can never truly be accepted as normal, natural, or acceptable. Drawn in by their beauty, Moncho 1929 forces his audience to confront their own judgments as they attempt to classify his subjects. As the viewer observes the dualities that consume the series they are intrigued by the gorgeous yet unnatural subjects. In this vein, the chimeras that Moncho 1929 create offer a poignant reflection on contemporary global relationships. His experiences in the multicultural and historical ‘melting pot’ that is New York City become telling elements of the artist’s personal story, personal connections, and personal realizations about the world. While quintessential icons of American life that trigger a sense of nostalgia in a viewer, for Moncho 1929 Razzmatazz is the corner store he frequented as a child, the store that he vividly recalls as the site of his first fight, but a store that he found representative of life in America. Take his recent work “Razzmatazz (Candy Shop)”, where an ornate circus horse warps into the body of a child on an antiquated go-kart all overlaid with a classic Pepsi Cola bottle cap. While a Los Angeles artist, Moncho 1929 alludes to his youth growing up in the South Bronx. The universal experiences evoked by Moncho 1929’s Chimara series begin to reveal subtle personal autobiographical details. The layering of lines, figures, and colors reveals new complexities as the viewer dives deeper. Each work drawing the viewer further and further into a world of disparate narratives and thrilling creatures. The surreal nature of his chimeras is elegantly complemented by the delicacy of line and color. As these creatures emerge from the canvas, Moncho 1929 manages to maintain a balance. ![]() A bastardization of the natural and industrial, a monstrous modernized mythology, a mechanical centaur. 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.Īt 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. What strikes the viewer first is the familiarity they recognize a human figure, a horse body, the barrel of a gun. ![]() ![]() Moncho 1929 toys with those conceptions to produce his peculiar combinations. The term chimera conjures images of mythological hybrid beings or scientific species where two opposing biologies exist in a singular being. What odd and obscure evolutions they are. The lines trail on as if anticipating a future set of movements or evolutions. The highly detailed figures often fade into sketches and run-on lines however, the work does not feel unfinished. Bold fields of color and gestural lines evoke his background as a street artist and the two-dimensionality of the background and minimalist use of color calls to mind techniques of screen printing. While the works come to life through oil and acrylic paints, he combines figures, animals, and objects in a manner reminiscent of collage and mixed media. In the true renaissance man fashion, Moncho 1929’s Chimera series are visual collisions of a multiplicity of art forms.
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