Arturo Kameya: The moon wanted to be the sun, but it was too late to change
Click here to RSVP to Arturo Kameya's artist talk with Valentijn Byvanck on Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 3 pm at GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL).
GRIMM is pleased to present Arturo Kameya's new solo exhibition, which will open on Thursday, May 22, at the Amsterdam gallery during Amsterdam Art Week 2025 (May 22-25, 2025).
Arturo Kameya’s work examines the narratives and myths that comprise different versions of Peru's socio-political history. Works in various media are often grouped together to create large-scale installations that delineate connections between disparate historical events by linking together a range of visual cultural languages that have been formed over time.
Kameya’s work has garnered international attention for its investigative and direct critical depictions of his native country, Peru, which narrates both the troubling and familiar aspects of Peruvian society. The country’s depicted troubled past and present holds direct universal truths that surpass the geographic location and touch upon universal contemporary existential issues.
Underscoring the universal themes in his work, among them displacement, culture and identity, Kameya was inspired by the ideas of writer and poet Édouard Glissant (1928-2011), known for his work in postcolonial theory and the complex relationships between cultures. He laid the foundation for the thought that identities are not fixed but arise through a continuous dialogue and cross-pollination of different influences.
"Furthermore, an identity that does not define itself through a root anchored in the soil or territory is an identity without a defined beginning, a germinal foundation; instead, it presents a relational development. For this reason, it is an identity without Original Sin, without an inherited debt, and without shame for being or existing. Debt, whether literal or symbolic, is an underlying condition based not only on economic aspects but also on cultural, epistemic, spiritual and emotional ones. However, no matter how stubborn these identities may be, islands seem to have an increasingly definitive fate: disappearance. The glaciers will finish melting, the tides will rise, and the sea will erase all evidence of those micro-medium identities." - Arturo Kameya
Kameya uses this description of identity as a metaphor for ‘islands’ in his work: unrooted, transparent, and a form of protest against the homogeneous concept of culture. The paintings in this exhibition are based on Kameya’s own memories.
About the artist
Arturo Kameya (b. 1984 in Lima, PE) attended the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in Lima (PE) and was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam (NL). He is the winner of the De Wolvecampprijs 2024. This year, Kameya is part of the group exhibition Your Ears Will Later Know to Listen, at Nottingham Contemporary (UK), on view from May 31 to September 7. He will present new work in the Statements sector at Art Basel (CH) from June 19 to June 22, 2025. Following this, he will have a solo exhibition at Centre d’Art Saint-Fons, CAP, Lyon (FR), opening in Fall.
Selected recent exhibitions include Prospect.6: The Future Is Present, The Harbinger Is Home, New Orleans, LA (US) in 2024; Opaque Spirits, Marres, Maastricht (NL) in 2024; Toward the Celestial, ICA, Miami, FL (US) in 2024; Los Ovnis, GRIMM, New York, NY (US) in 2023; Memory is an Editing Station, 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil, São Paulo (BR) in 2023; En esa pulga se mezcla nuestra sangre / In that flea, our blood mixes, GRIMM, New York, NY (US) in 2021; Drylands, Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht (NL) in 2021; Soft Water Hard Stone, New Museum Triennial, New York, NY (US) in 2021.
Kameya's work is part of numerous collections including the ABN AMRO Collection (NL); Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection (US); THE EKARD COLLECTION; ING Collection (NL); Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL (US); Museo de Arte de Lima, MALI (PE) and Saastamoinen Foundation (FI).
