During his childhood in Chile, Iván Navarro experienced evening electrical shutdowns and travel restrictions imposed by the authoritarian government. Rather than speaking directly about the control and longing for freedom of that era, the artist speaks indirectly through works that incorporate mostly materials that emit, reflect, or expand light, such as neon, mirrors, glass, and fluorescent lights. Among his works, the neon sculptures based on skyscrapers provide the new experience of peering into a space of infinite depth rather than of looking up at buildings towering over our heads. These sculptures, made of neon, mirror, and glass instead of concrete or iron, are installed towards a wall or floor rather than towards the high sky, causing the viewer to look again at the actual space.
Untitled (Twin Towers) is a work based on the World Trade Center towers destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York. In the work, which is built in the form of two squares installed on the floor, a light is inserted between a mirror and a one-way mirror to generate an endless reflection. The works of Ivan Navarro, which explore light but also contain darkness, and which appear to be infinitely expanding while trapped within a space, hold hope for the future, while at the same time denouncing the dark past and reality.
