Eli Bedón presents the exhibition “Imaginary Bifurcation”: identity as an enigma

One of the most interesting pieces in “Imaginary Bifurcation,” a recent exhibition by Peruvian artist Eli Bedón, is a large-format painting that shows a wall crossed from top to bottom by a crack. There is not much more than that, but that crack in the earthen wall offers – as the title of the exhibition says – an opening towards multiple speculative possibilities.

All the other paintings in the exhibition in the Forum gallery correspond to the one already described. They are sepia tone images of a house in ruins, and only in some there is human presence: the enigmatic appearance of an androgynous character, with a silk suit and face painted in the manner of a geisha.

“The exhibition was designed in 2017, we did a photo session with this character who was wandering around the abandoned house,” says Bedón about how his project originated. “Then time went by and the character began to fade. I was more interested in what happened at the less sharp edges.. But the idea was to continue talking about ambiguity,” she adds.

“I feel that the journey of the exhibition is like a story. The character enters and from there you have those spaces in the house. I chose all of them because they have divisions in the center and there are an opening towards something else, what happens beyond that”, details the artist.

LONG TRIP

Although in recent years he has exhibited in several collectives, “Imaginary Bifurcation” It is Bedón’s second individual exhibition after 14 years, since he presented “Youth” at the Vértice gallery. “At that time I was very interested in the theme of youth, of those characters who quickly achieved glory and decline. Angie Jibaja fascinated me. Amy Winehouse too,” she says.

The main character of “Imaginary Bifurcation” – played by photographer Inon Sani, dressed in Japanese clothing – retains something of that. “I think it comes a little from the stories my dad told me, who was Italian and came to South America with the excitement and confusion of the exotic European gaze”Warns Bedón.

Furthermore, the work process of this exhibition has allowed Bedón to find new motivations and directions. “I began to lose my fear of the brushstroke. “I began to let go and let go,” he says. I think what comes next for me is something closer. I don’t know if leaving the figurative completely, but releasing much more.