Banderas, Ernesto – Chile

Ernesto Banderas: Chilean Painter and Printmaker

Ernesto Banderas, a Chilean painter and printmaker, was born in Santiago in 1955. From his adolescence, he showed a strong interest in art, beginning his studies at the Experimental Art School of Santiago. He later graduated from the School of Art at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in 1976, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Art with a specialization in Printmaking.

The Work of Ernesto Banderas: A Focus on the Human Figure

In his work, both drawing and printmaking play a crucial role. After suffering a car accident, Banderas was forced to focus on painting during his recovery, which allowed him to develop his skills in all three disciplines in parallel. In his works, the human figure occupies a central place—something uncommon in an artistic context dominated by abstraction.

Ernesto Banderas is associated with the New Figuration movement, characterized by its figurative language and the presence of the human being as its main axis. However, his work is also distinguished by the creation of surreal environments, where everyday elements are transformed into symbols laden with deep meaning.

Themes and Style of Ernesto Banderas

A recurring theme in Banderas’s work is the portrayal of the male figure, which he subjects to expressive deformations in both faces and bodies. Through these works, the artist seeks to reflect a man trapped in his own fears and horrors, creating realistic spaces infused with his own imagination and symbolism. He often uses the male figure to explore a form of mental self-portraiture that goes beyond the physical.

The female figure, although also frequent in his work, is treated in a more expressive manner but without the extreme deformations that characterize the male figure. Taken as a whole, his body of work offers a profound and unique vision of the human being, from both an emotional and psychological perspective.