(b. Santiago, Chile, 1972)

Iván Navarro is a world-renowned sculptor internationally renowned for his socio-politically charged sculptures of neon, fluorescent and incandescent light.

Navarro was born in Chile during a time of great political corruption under the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). Pinochet’s right-wing extremist regime saw many political dissidents taken from their homes, tortured and never heard from again. As a child of an artistic family, Navarro’s father was tortured, and his family lived in fear. In response, he became inspired by the everyday objects that you might find in domestic life, such as shopping carts, ladders, doors, and chairs. He rendered these, and other objects and scenes, in light as a symbol of hope and truth but also out of lack of other artistic materials. Electricity and light also allude to systems of power, as electricity would frequently be shut off as a method of disruption and intimidation during the dictatorship. At first glance, his pieces look playful, with bright colors and common shapes, but as one looks closer into his constructed claustrophobic yet infinite spaces, it becomes clear that they are wrought with deep psychological anxiety.

In 2021, Navarro held his retrospective exhibition PLANETARIUM in Paris, a collaboration between Centre Quartre and Templon. Recent solo and group exhibitions include: Illuminate SF Festival of Light, San Francisco (2020); Light Show, CorpArtes, Santiago (2016); Storylines: Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2015); This Land is Your Land, Madison Square Park, New York (2014); Frost Museum of Art in Miami (2012); the Prospect.2 Biennial in New Orleans (2011); Distrito 4 in Madrid (2010); Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem, Israel (2010); Tierra de Nadie in Caja de Burgos, Spain (2010); Towner Contemporary Art Museum in Eastbourne, UK and Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris (2009); Greenaway Gallery-Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts in Australia (2008); Centro Cultural Matucana 100 in Santiago, Chile (2007); Witte de Witt in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2006); and MOCA at Goldman Warehouse in Miami (2006). In 2009, he represented Chile at the 53rd Venice Biennale. His work is held in the public and private collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington, DC), Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, VA), Fonds National d’Art Contemporain (Paris), Towner Contemporary Art Museum, (Eastbourne, UK), LVMH Collection (Paris), Saatchi Collection (London), and Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea (Santiago de Compostela, Spain).

Navarro lives and works in New York.