Gabriel Chaile is dedicated to creating installations and sculptures—many of them anthropomorphic in nature—in which he draws on Indigenous and artisanal knowledge and techniques, with a keen interest in the intersections of anthropology, religion, and art. Using primarily clay and adobe, his works evoke ancestral and collective symbolism in dialogue with contemporary life, forming his visual, material, and formal repertoire—which also engages with Indigenous references from Northwestern Argentina, his birthplace, as well as Spanish and Afro-Arab cultural legacies. In this sense, the artist’s work is as much about recovering traditions as it is about expanding and renewing them, fostering encounters and new forms of sociability.
Collaborative practices are central to Chaile’s work, especially experiences that connect food and cooking with art. His clay ovens—like the one commissioned for the 14th Mercosul Biennial—evoke memories of communal celebration, reinforcing food as a vehicle for communion and the transmission of knowledge. Chaile understands heritage as a living process, sustained through sharing and the creation of new communities.
Cristina Barros
Gabriel Chaile (Argentina, 1985) creates sculptures and public-scale installations, mainly from clay and adobe, materials loaded with symbolic dimensions and collective rituals that the artist synthesizes. His work draws on the imagery, techniques, and formal repertoires of different indigenous cosmologies from northwestern Argentina. Collaboration is essential for Chaile in exchanges through food and cuisine, where he brings his production closer to broader articulations with migrant collectives, peripheral populations, and political borders. He has participated in several exhibitions, such as the 59th Venice Biennale and the New Museum Triennial in the United States. He lives in Lisbon, Portugal.
