Victor Castillo

"'No Pasaran' means 'They shall not pass!' in Spanish. The slogan was used during the Spanish civil war against the fascists.

I made this painting originally for an exhibition titled The Invisible Cage. In The Invisible Cage I talk about the classroom and education as indoctrination. The exhibition is mainly of images in the classroom, at school, of children under a spell. For me Pinocchio is the perfect figure or metaphor for the lie, which is instantly recognizable for everyone." - Victor Castillo

Victor Castillo tells stories in his paintings. As if it were a contemporary chronicle, his work appropriates the narrative logic of illustrations for children’s stories, and the aesthetics of classic animations, to present us with allegories about human nature and current affairs. His humorous and colorful work has also been described as political poetry coming from the Latin American experience. Victor was born in Santiago, Chile in 1973, moved to Barcelona, Spain in 2006, and then to Los Angeles, California in 2010, where he currently resides.