Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle is a conceptual artist, an idea man. Born 31 years ago in Madrid, raised in Bogotá and Chicago, he’s got a lot to say and two languages to say it in, an arsenal of words behind every image.
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His latest vehicle is the humble juice bottle, appropriated for a show at his alma mater, the School of the Art Institute. It’s the kind of show that usually raises his hackles, a collection of “Ibero-American” artists, mounted in honor of the “Colombian quincentenary.” He’s a curator himself, and it’s not the sort of thing he would do. “I’ve never curated a Latino show, never an artist-of-color show, never a show about women,” he says. “I very infrequently allow myself to be in shows of Latino artists. This will be my second. And in both cases, I presented work that talks about the show.”
“I’m sick and tired of going to panel discussions where the moderator is always from the mainstream,” Manglano-Ovalle says. “We have a lot of critics, curators, institutions theorizing on, talking for others, rather than allowing them in to do the curating, to do the writing, to be on equal footing.
