Gato por liebre

2016

Installation: ceramic, plaster, polyester resin, porcelain and pigmented silicon. 170x100x80 cm.

Gato por liebre is a work that refers to the popular sculpture Caupolicán by the pioneer in this technique in Chile: Nicanor Plaza. The work reportedly portraits the toki Caupolicán registered by Alonso de Ercilla in his famous literary piece La Araucana. The sculpture was presented in the gypsum salon in Paris in 1866, where it was presented as “The last of Mohicans”, portraying indigenous people that inhabited North America. After losing the first prize, Plaza presented the piece again in the “Artes e Industria” exhibition in 1872, wining first place after changing the work’s name to Caupolicán. The sculpture has been controversial, since it does not represent the Mapuche morphology. The earrings and the crest do not match with the figure of the toki described by Alonso de Ercilla, a clear fact if we realize the real reason why the piece was created in first place.

Using as an example a low-quality sculpture, made with diverse origin materials –some noble while others not–, that was found in a flea market in Valparaíso, sculptures with different finishing coats and shapes were displayed. The sculptures send us back to Plaza’s proposed model about how to classify a Mapuche person, giving shape to the question about the multiple ways this subject can be represented.

Photos: Diego Argote.