soliliquy Painting

Dan Monteavaro dba MONCHO 1929 (Puerto Rico, b. 1975) Originally from South Bronx, Dan Monteavaro’s artwork can be found in the multiple private, city, and corporate collections; from Google, Inc. to the French Consulate of the US, and from The City of New York, Paramount, the NBA, MLS and Universal Pictures, to the Public Art collections of cities like Glendale, Los Angeles, and West Hollywood. Most recently, Dan Monteavaro’s work was acquired for the permanent collection of Iowa Museum of Modern Art (The Figge), exhibited at The Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art and he was included in the juried BP Portrait Awards for The National Portrait Gallery in the United Kingdom. Dan currently lives and works out of Los Angeles, CA Moncho1929, (Dan Monteavaro), creates captivating works of art the challenge his audiences to reconcile with the dualities of contemporary life. With exhibitions around the world and even a recent invitation to the prestigious Venice Biennale, Moncho1929 has been producing work under the radar from the prying and commodifying eyes of the arts industry, yet stunning his growing audiences internationally. As the pandemic forced the world indoors, Moncho 1929 used this time to explore, contemplate, and find new depths in his growing Chimera series. His intricate and awe-inspiring works abstract reality, forcing his viewers to question the ways we perceive the world around us. The term chimera conjures images of mythological hybrid beings or scientific species where two opposing biologies exist in a singular being. Moncho 1929 toys with those conceptions to produce his peculiar combinations. What strikes the viewer first is the familiarity; they recognize a human figure, a horse body, the barrel of a gun. Then, confusion. 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. At 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. As these creatures emerge from the canvas, Moncho 1929 manages to maintain a balance. The surreal nature of his chimeras is elegantly complemented by the delicacy of line and color.